New Works By Judy Kensley McKie In Wood (as well as Bronze and Stone)

Though I try to restrict my arts coverage to wood art, I have what I call the JKM exception, which states, if your initials are JKM I'll discuss what ever you make, regardless of the medium. Coincidentally, Judy Kensley McKie has those very same initials so I was happy that when I came across her show at Gallery NAGA it was full of museum quality work that included wood sculptures as well as bronze and stone.

Of all the work in the show I was most intrigued with her abstract basswood relief because it is so completely different than anything else of her's that I've seen.

Abstract Headboard
carved basswood
40" x 63" x 1 3/4"

Not only does it lack any animal imagery, but there are no smooth, graceful curves. It is full of jagged, sharp edges, almost like shards of glass or metal off-cuts that were thrown on a floor. It is hard to imagine anything more distant from her breathtakingly beautiful and often humorous furniture.

In her conversation with Arthur Dion, the gallery director, reproduced in the catalog, she says that she started drawing it as a mental break, to start thinking about other ways of working, and when she looked at the finished drawing decided that it was interesting enough to reproduce as a relief. I can see how it would be rejuvenating to create the drawing, however, it is also interesting how she took a mental break but then applied the same level of intensity she applies to her other work in realizing it into a final piece. It took her three months of difficult carving to make and she could have easily used that time to create something more typical, with a ready-made market. I guess what I like the most about the piece is how it shows artistic integrity in her willingness to take chances and grow. She hasn't become complacent and content to make things that she knows will sell, rather, she is pushing herself, and her audience, to look at things differently.
Of Judy's more famous biomorphic work, this tiger table is the star of the show. The narrow legs, thin body, and graceful lines give it a delicate and animated feel, while the fierce head provide it a contrasting sense of danger.

Tiger Table
cast bronze
(I had to lift the image from the gallery website because I accidentally deleted my own)

The mouth seems perfectly shaped to fit a forearm, seemingly tempting the viewer to place one there and risk losing it. A perfect balance of beauty, danger, and temptation.
This ram bench has a very pre-Columbian feel. I think of it as a minimalist sculpture in the non-traditional sense, that is, Judy has somehow captured the essence of the ram with the minimal amount of material removed. It is good to see it still retains its original blocky nature, which, remarkably, seems to show respect to both the medium and the subject.

Ram Bench
Limestone

This dog bench is another of my favorites. Classic JKM work in being both humorous and graceful.

Dog Bites Tail Table/Bench
cast bronze

Along the same lines is this Round Hound Table. It is a form she has played around with before, however, this one seems to have more movement and is more flowing. It makes me think of the Yin/Yang symbol but also reminds me of MC Escher's drawings, perhaps because of the symmetry.

With this Cherry Tree Chest (and I assume with the Abstract Headboard as well) Judy used a dead flat varnish so that the wood wouldn't darken and the grain pattern wouldn't distract from the design. I think it has more of a tropical look than I would expect for something made to represent a temperate forest tree but, as with her other representational pieces, her imagination is more important than the reality of the object.

Cherry Chest
carved basswood with maple casework

And yes, the draws are made with hand-cut dovetails.
There are quite a few snake pieces in the show, including these candle stick holders and bowls.
She says she likes to design with snake because they are just a line, allowing unlimited possibilities. They are also the non-venomous kind, more like garter snakes that are friendly bug eaters.

Snake Bowl (wood)

Snake Bowl
cast in bronze from the one above

I like this Monkey Cabinet and how it seems to borrow from Frank Stella's protractor series and
how this Ibex Cabinet seems to borrow from Van Gogh's technique of outlining figures.
Judy has included two more pieces from her "helping hands" series in the show. They are endearing works in that she is creating pieces that are just looking to be helpful, asking what they could do around the house that might be useful and then assigning themselves some otherwise menial task. In addition to the new vase and candlestick holders, previous shows have included helping hand bookends and a bowl. Although it is overt in these pieces, the same theme runs through most of her work. Her animals seem to be saying, "how can I help you?", "have a seat," "let me hold that for you," servants out of of graciousness rather than servitude.

Helping Hands Vase
cast bronze

Helping Hands Candlesticks
cast bronze

When I visited the show a week after the opening, this Duck Bowl had already sold out (she is selling 8 of her edition-ed work). There is something about the shape of the head and the fact that it is looking back that is captivating. It is elegant but also a little odd, just a little off, slightly confusing, that draws me to look at it longer.

Duck Bowl
cast bronze

The show also includes a series of animal plaques. My favorite are this frog and

this dog. I especially like how she has the tail become part of the border. It is so Egyptian-esque that I had to research what dog hieroglyphs look like and was surprised to find that Egyptian's drew much more realistic looking dogs than I would have imagined. You can find examples here and here. I think this one looks more like a lizard, which makes it more interesting.

New Influence/Direction

After having seen Frank Stella's Irregular Polygons at Dartmouth's Hood Museum and listening to him talk a few days later, I decided my work would be more interesting if I escaped the tyranny of rectangularity.

Five Randomly Tapered Planks
(Update 2/4/11: I changed the name of this piece to
A Tear of Joy and Profound Admiration)
shellac on curly maple, curly yellow birch,
curly/bird's-eye yellow birch
approx. 47" x 42" x 1"

Having milled these five planks many months earlier, I was having trouble deciding on how to arrange them, but as soon as my mind opened to the idea of adding random angles to the work, it fell together much better. It seems like such a simple idea but it opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. It will be interesting to see where it leads.

Alternate Orientation
approx. 58" x 34" x 1"

In addition to the unique shape of this piece, the middle plank is particularly interesting in that it is made with bird's-eye yellow birch. I had no idea that such a thing existed (and didn't know I had bought it until after I put it through the jointer) but now that I know I'll take extra care to look for it at the lumber mill.

yellow birch bird's-eye closeup

Moment of Anxiety

There is a moment of anxiety when I place a finished piece on the wall and see it for the first time as it should be shown. I've never known a piece to live up to my expectations as I stand back (perhaps because delusions of grandeur are the only thing that can keep me motivated to finish it) but I at least hope that I'm not disappointed. No matter how I look at a sculpture or painting while I'm working on it, how many times I hang it, arrange the individual pieces or place them together, the final hanging is always different and a surprise.

Five Wedges
(Update 2/4/11: I changed the name of this piece to
Green Chimneys)
shellac on curly maple and cherry
49" x 20" x 4"

With this one I am less disappointed than most, which I have to accept as total success.

I think it is very musical. The colors have a rhythm as you look from the right or left sides, which I wasn't expecting as much as I had planned for the wedge shapes and placement to be rhythmic. Initially, I thought viewing from the right was better, with the yellow on each piece, but now, looking from the left and seeing the red/yellow pattern, I can't choose.
I've been listening to a lot of jazz as I work and would like to think that this sculpture is influenced by Thelonious Monk. I find it amazing how the notes he plays are simultaneously completely wrong and completely perfect. I think my only disappointment in this piece is in not seeing a similar quality, something needed to be more wrong and unexpected but I'm not sure what.

close-up (right)

From the fine art world though, it is influenced by Anne Truitt. After seeing her work on-line, I wanted to play around with making 3-D pieces that were colored differently on each side. I also like how she makes paintings of minimalist 3-D forms. I debated for months whether to make this a wall piece or something for a pedestal but could never think of a good way to display them on a pedestal so I went for the wall.

close-up (left)

I also struggled for months on cutting the wedges. They might look simple but my only hope of cutting the faces with clean lines and without tear-out (because of the intense figure) was to improve my skills with handplanes. Thankfully, Garrett Hack gave a workshop on using hand tools nearby over the summer and the Vermont Arts Council gave me a grant to help pay for it. Dealing with tear-out is the most difficult problem of working with figured lumber so I'm sure my new skills will help me save a lot of time on future work.

Update (Nov. 11, 2010): I have added an image of this piece on a real wall to give a more realistic view of it.

If I Were Three

It has been a few years since I was three, but I think if I were, I could play with these blocks all day long.
Random sizes, randomly painted, who could ask for more?
I think it is pretty darn close to impossible to avoid creating a visual masterpiece, regardless of how they are stacked.
The possibilities are endless.Each master piece is ephemeral, made once, never to be seen again, but who cares, the next will be better still.
They are made with pine and milk paint. I had never used milk paint before so I was interested to learn more about it. It is completely safe, essentially edible, made with milk proteins, limestone, and natural pigments. They are the some of the oldest paints of human history, found on cave paintings. It acts more like a stain than a modern paint so there are no brush marks left behind. Surprisingly, I couldn't find any suppliers nearby so I ordered some samples from these very nice people in Maine. When I started using it I realized that I've seen a lot of studio furniture makers use them, like David Hurwitz and Mark Del Guidice, but didn't know exactly what I was looking at. I couldn't figure out how they avoided brush marks so impeccably. It is also compliments contemporary furniture by giving a contrasting old/antique-esque look to the work.

I think I should have made a set for myself. Maybe I'll get lucky and learn that three-year-olds find them useless.

Paradise City - Northampton III Debrief

I was at the Paradise City Arts Festival in Northampton, MA over the weekend. This was my third time going to this show and I have to say it has been my favorite venue. It is a well established show that always has good crowds with plenty of people who aren't afraid to spend money, even in this economy. I can't say all the artists are selling at the level they need or expect to, but people are definitely spending money. For me, even if I'm not selling, having a large audience certainly helps in that I always get good feedback. Luckily, sales were good, especially compared to the disappointing Spring shows. I sold the new piece, Peaches and Pears, as well as an older piece, Green Grass-Summer Day, and I know a couple of people are seriously considering additional work. That, along with the additional 27 email addresses that I collected, give me hope that I can eventually earn a living making art.

Booth Shot
October 9, 2010

After the show I decided that I need to start taking notes to document what people say when they see my work. In particular, I need to count how many times I hear the exact phase "I've never seen anything like this." It is somewhat amazing to see a stream of random people walking by and hearing the first thing out of their mouths be the exact same phase. I estimate I hear it about five times a day but I'll start collecting data at the next show and then use the numbers as a gauge for evaluating success.

Other interesting comments included one person who was raving that they the work should be in museums. Unfortunately, he wasn't a curator nor did he have connections to any but I encouraged him to remember the work if he ever ran into one. Another artist stopped by and asked "Do people understand how beautiful these are?"

I also remember someone saying, "You must really enjoy making these." To which I responded, surprising myself, "No, actually I don't enjoy it." I enjoy the final piece, I enjoy thinking about them, I enjoy having a purpose to go to the lumber yard, but the actual process of making them I mostly don't enjoy. Rather, I find it to be a painful struggle that I'm compelled to complete. An endurance battle much like a marathon. Does anyone ever really enjoy running marathons? I've done them and I can't say I liked it either; still I would like to run more. I've hoped that making art would somehow get easier over time but I haven't found it to get any easier. Interestingly, I recently heard Philip Roth being interviewed on Fresh Air by Terry Gross and he said essentially the same thing. Writing has never gotten any easier for him, rather, it has always been a difficult struggle that he battles with every day. I guess I just need to get used to it (though, I'm sure, if it ever got easy I'd find something else to do -- the struggle keeps it interesting). Update Oct 22, 2010: I saw Frank Stella talk at Dartmouth College yesterday and, when someone asked whether he found more pleasure in making his art, looking at the finished piece, or looking at the work of others, he said that he doesn't find pleasure in making his art, that there are always problems that he is trying to fix which take all his attention, and that it is much more pleasurable to look at someone else's art.

In addition, I was surprised, and very humbled, to hear one artist compare my work to Agnes Martin's. I don't see it myself but have heard it enough times that there must be some truth to it. I hadn't known of her work until I made Silk Ribbons and Cherry a couple of years ago and had three people tell me that it reminded them of her paintings. Her work is so subtle that looking at images on the web is really pointless but finally saw one over the Summer. Like a whisper, it forces you to listen. If my work could do that, it would be a great accomplishment.

Another advantage of the show is meeting other artists and learning about their work. I especially like to see other people working with wood. This time I talked a bit with Mark Del Guidice, a unique and very accomplished studio furniture maker. He combines his own contemporary designs with his interesting, intuitive, hieroglyphs. They appear to tell a story but they are ambiguous enough that the viewer is drawn in and challenged to decipher them. He also adds text in morse code sometimes. I believe he creates pieces that work as an antidote to the ever increasing speeds of modern culture by slowing people down and getting them to look and think about what is in front of them.

Love Chest

Adornment

This chair has morse code on the back. It says, "Relax Have A Seat."

Sanfra Chair

I was glad to see this piece of non-functional wall art. The rocks are a nice touch. It seems a little altar-esque, something that promotes contemplation and prayer.

Faith

The next show is CraftWestport, November 20 and 21.