Some Thoughts- The hair

THE HAIR

I know that you had said you might prefer a different hairstyle. I do hope you will consider my suggestions and thoughts about the hair. I don’t believe I make these decisions for the art on my own; I do feel that there is meaning and intention that is greater than my own that goes into these details.

When beginning to sculpt the hair I tried a few different hairstyles. The wispy look of the hair is inspired by Jeane-Antoine Houdon sculpture of inventor Robert Fulton. I loved creating the hair. It was at night, the interns go home, and I am alone with the sculpture. It is my favorite working time because that is when I can “hear”the intentions that are coming from my hands. It is very similar to “feeling” direction after prayer while rocking in the rocking chair.

I am pleased with the hair, and when asked if I could change it the thought startled me. I had to ask, why? Why God, why is this hair so important to me?

I stepped back and said, it is full of emotion. It is just above the arms of the chair, and because it is full of emotion and motion it draws you in to the rest of the sculpture.

I sought more; this is an artist reason, but it felt a deeper attachment to this hair? Why? I thought of

how I strive to change to live in God’s image. My heart reminded me that I go to my prayer closet to seek God, I am not perfect. It seems that in this sacred place of this sculpture the man should not be “perfect.” When I go to God in prayer I don’t have everything in place, I don’t have everything figured out. I come to seek God, just as I am. Sometimes, this praying time is easy, ritualistic, other times it is heart wrenching. I bring the loss of a child, a parent, and a relationship. I come seeking a deeper knowing of God, a direction. It is these times—as I am bending on my knees I am I am running my fingers through my hair as my knees hit the ground. “This is yours Lord, I need you, I can’t do this alone, I need your guidance, and I am only a man and not perfect. I will sit here as long as it takes, I am in earnest and seek my perfection in your grace. ”

The man kneels, his hands resting on the word of God, the arms of rocker embracing him as he

seeks.

You are the client, I will change the hair, in the wax to whatever you like; however, I do hope you will entertain and pray about the creative direction of the artist and the intent behind the guiding of my hands.

I look forward to seeing you on Monday. Bridgette

Some thoughts- The Bible- Hidden

THE BIBLE

I could not get the bible done before you arrive. The hardest part about this job was that so many vendors were shut down for the two holidays. The bible is roughly indicated. You can see where the scripture will go, but the words are not inscribed and the pages and edges are not sculpted. But just as with the chair, we needed to “place” it to be able to put all the pieces together. Once we take the chair apart for mold making, the bible will be completed. I’ll send photographs to you for your approval, at a later date. I did begin to layout the scripture, and you can see that it starts on the left side and rags to the right page, just above the mans hand. It is almost as if he has just read it and is resting his heart and his hand on the meaning of the words.

HIDDEN

I love sculpting feet. We all know the feet are

referenced in the bible.

 Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path.” NIV 1984

Take a closer look at the bottom of his shoes. Subtle, but it is there. A little hidden surprise for you.

(Later we revise this a bit taking out the edge of the cross on both sides. During the approval process someone points out that it looks like a stain glass window. I love when others find things that I didn't realize I was doing. ) 

Some thoughts- The process, The Chair

Before the final date of reviewing the sculpture I jotted down some of my thoughts. I sent them to the DBU and thought I would share them here.

To: Dr. Gary Cook, Dr. J. Blair Blackburn, and Shannen Smith

Gentlemen,

Thank you for this opportunity to work on this project for Dallas Baptist University. This was the crunch time. It was essential to get this sculpted as quickly as possible so that the sculpture could go into the foundry process. We had a dedicated team working on the job. We had interns from two colleges and one high school student along and three assistant sculptors.

Even with such a time crunch, creativity and education are motivations behind each sculpture. I

thought you would be pleased to know that your piece was an excellent learning process for our group. I am elated with the commitment, compassion and the creation completed in less than 30 days.

THE PROCESS

As soon as I can catch my breath a bit, and the sculpture is at the foundry. I will be documenting the work that was done with pictures. I'll do this on a private blog where you can see the process. We can make it public after the unveiling. I did want to share some of my thoughts, prayers and what I feel are creative revelations as I proceeded with the piece.

You have a “God given talent”, people say. I humbly agree that the passion that comes from my

hands is greater than the human artist. My creative process is one filled with revelation. I feel the Holy Spirit speaks to my heart, and somehow that Spirit comes through my hands. I wanted to share a bit of that with you, as well as the pictures that you requested I send before you come.

After approval, it will take a week to get the sculpture through the beginning of the foundry

process. To do this we need to cut the man and chair into about 10-15 pieces. At this time, we work on some more detail and smoothing. It is a lot easier smoothing the underside of something when it is a small piece and flipped on a table as you sit upright rather than reaching around appendages or balancing upside down.

If you would like to familiarize yourself with the foundry process here is a link where I have

documented it for others- Mold making http://www.creativesculpture.com/mold.html

Wax http://www.creativesculpture.com/wax.html

Metal and finishing http://www.creativesculpture.com/metal.html

THE CHAIR

Originally, when I spoke with Shannen Smith about creating this sculpture on such a tight deadline, the plan was to visit stores in Houston and find the appropriate chair. That way I did not have to worry about sculpting a chair and only needed to focus on the man. However, we all know that the chair became a sentimental and important aspect for DBU.

I must admit, that if you were to suggest a rocker before we started I would have said it was not a

good design idea. The arms of the chair would hide what is happening, and be a visual distraction. I fell in love with Dr. Cook's rocker after seeing it.

Someone at DBU asked me what rockers mean to me. They have so much meaning. When I was

young, everyone had a rocking chair in his or her home. It was where your parents comforted you, read
you stories at night, taught you, and listened to you. I recently said to my daughter, who is now pregnant with her child, “You need a rocker, something with arms that will help you to hold and cradle your baby in the wee hours.” That is what I did with her.

I picture this praying man resting his bible on the arms of this chair as he searches the Word and

contemplates them in his heart.

I have a wicker rocking chair on the porch of my studio. This is my favorite place of meditation. I rock and look at my pond and wait for God to speak to my heart.

It is safe to say that I have an emotional involvement with Dr. Cook’s rocking chair. It is a good

thing I am invested in the rocking chair, because recreating the rocking chair was as much work as

creating the man. We had an entire “team” working on just the rocker.

The pieces were at first, created separately. I knew what I wanted, and could see them together in

my mind, but I could hardly wait to put them together, to unite praying man with the rocker.

My favorite view. This will never be seen by
the general public. Once the back of the chair
goes onto the sculpture this private moment
becomes even more private. 

I realized some things after the man was added to the rocker

• Though I feared the arms of the chair would distract from the sculpture, once I placed the man, I realized they cradled him.

• This space between the arms was a physical

representation of his prayer closet.

• This is the same place he will sit later waiting and

listening for God to speak to his heart.

• Though it was extremely difficult to reach inside this area, the place, smooth, and sculpt, I had the feeling it was a sacred space.

I am sorry we lost the view of the man through the back. I’m sending it in this correspondence. It is one of my favorite views, but again, an intimate glance into a special place of a man and his God.

Technical note: There are dowels in the lower half of the back of the chair that is visible in these pictures as well as screw holes. These will not be in the bronze version. They are necessary to disassemble the chair for the mold making process. Please try to overlook these. We also did not have access to a lathe to put the detail in front of the chair. If I can do this in the wax I will, but with the time crunch I may have to let this go.

There is still much work to be done on the chair. James smooths out the base of the chair to represent wood and then Antoinette painstakingly adds many, many carpet tacks.  We also have a studio visitor.  An intern brings a family Christmas present. OK we might not have gotten as much work done when Daisy arrived, but I really enjoyed having her. 

James has a lot of time invested into the chair.

Placement of hands, how they interact with the cushion and
many, many carpet tacks. 

I recently lost my dog. So having a visit from Daisy was
extremely nice. 

My Aching Back

My alone time with the sculpture. 

Once again ,we move the praying man higher. This saves me from having to roll around on the studio floor.  The Christmas holiday is upon us and my interns have been very accommodating  God bless them all. I do love my alone time with the sculpture.  It is the time where we get to know each other better.  To meet this deadline I'm averaging 14 hour days.  I stagger the interns but am thankful for all of the time they give me when they could be with their families. 

Thanks for stopping by to visit the studio, be sure to check your shoes when you leave, you don't want to track any of this clay home and onto your carpets. 

I can feel the passion in the piece. I hope it translates to others. 

Though the man is still, the folds create movement in the piece. 

I just keep moving around and around the sculpture until
there is nothing else to do. 

Coming Together

How is the hand placed on the head? How does the arm
interact with the cushion and the mans body?
What is the mood that we are after?These are things
I continue to work out as we progress.
Dear Lord Please help me to bring
Your spirit into this piece. 

I'm pleased with how things are coming. 

After roughing in the foam cushion I can add the bible
and other hand. Now things begin to come together. 

There are so many elements to this sculpture. There is the man, the chair, the cushion, the floor, the placement of the hands and arms, and the creases in the chair, the folds in the pants. We keep putting things together and creating and then taking them apart and working on them.

We are just two weeks away from trying to get approval. 

I have to hand it to you!

The hands start out as just a wire armature. 

Why sculpt the underside if no one will see it?  Because the
hidden areas have a relationship with what is seen.
To make it real a sculptor must not cut corners. 

I use my own hand as reference.  

I love sculpting hands.  I have always loved sculpting them. Interestingly enough, if I am doing a life-size sculpture of someone, it is not only their face that must be spot on, but their hands as well. 

I have a strong attraction to hands. Is it because touch is so important in what I do?  

Someone asked me if I would create a hand sculpting tutorial. I certainly will, and will add that link here as soon as things slow down. 

Touched.

One of the most important things to me are the casts that I made
of my parents hands.  Both mother and father have gone on to
be with the Lord.  If ever you visit my studio, ask me about
the piece of art I created with these casts and what it means to me. 

Flipping out!

OK well not flipping out, it is  more like flipping over.  Another thing that interns help me with is smoothing the clay.  Often times I'll work late into the evening, adding clay and taking away, and they come in the next day only to have to clean up a mess and smooth out the clay.  Slowly we begin to add the details into the sculpture, the folds are a key to making the sculpture look like it is real and has action.  They take a lot of work.  

Antoinette and Shirley set up a bed for the praying man
and begin to smooth out the details. 

Once the man is flipped we realize there is much to do. 

A really big shoe!

I wrap the shoe in saran wrap to keep it from getting dirty. 

I love reference. It is important for me to have something to look at. This shoe reference came from Sears. Yes, I bought shoes so that we could look at their shape.  

You can never have enough reference. Notice the bar that is
holding the praying man up. Though he is in foam with
his head on he is top heavy.  

Fabrication of a rocker. All of the man's weight will soon be
on this rocker.  

Meanwhile... We had an entire crew working on fabricating a rocker.  

Getting ahead

The head is created separately

I'm thinking a lot about the "feeling of prayer, as I search
for the facial expressions of a praying man. 

Heads are always created separately from the body and then added to the sculpture.  How is it added?  I pound  long rods through the head and body.  Though I am working on it in another location of the studio, the interns are adding wax and clay to pieces, and we are pulling them together. From time to time,  I'll add the head to the body and step back.  It is necessary to make all of the pieces in proportion to the others. A perfect head that is the wrong size compared to the body is totally useless.  So, I am constantly checking proportions by putting the head on and then taking it off again to work on it.


Originally the chair in the sculpture was going to be created in wood; however, my vendor surprised me with a foam chair. It was ok for positioning, but later another helper would create a wooden chair from scratch.  It was a real team effort on this project.

The reference photographs are everywhere.  

Slowly we begin to see the
praying man come together.
But where are his feet? 

The foam arrives!

Today is my birthday and as a gift the foam has arrived to start sculpting on the project. There is still much to be done with the foam. We have to put all of the foam pieces together, shave, and sand down what I don't want, and cover the foam pieces with wax.

The foam arrives in pieces and must be glued together. 

We all make a mess sanding the foam.
The vacuum gets a good workout. 

Once the foam is sanded it is covered with wax and clay.

Are you seeing it yet? 

Getting Started- A Floor

With a rolling base and a great looking floor, we are well on
our way to the beginning of this project. 

When you have many interns on a project, there are multiple things happening at the same time.  After roaming and searching for just the right texture for the floor of this sculpted scene, I have found wood that will work.  I prefer to have a wooden base rather than a sculpted base as the floor gets much use from moving things on and off. One of my interns comes in and makes a rolling base for the sculpture and the floor.  James, another intern spray paints the base a brown color. I like to have everything the same color as the clay that I am using. It helps me to see the projects as a uniform piece and offers less visual distraction. I also think it helps the client to see the sculpture.  James also fills in the cracks.

We keep the tree in the studio for a while. There has to be
some aspect of Christmas celebration during this
holiday deadline.  It comes down later when I realize
the interns are getting dangerously close to the drying tree
with the torches!  

Upside down trees and dedication to chairs.

The upside down Christmas tree in the artist's
Studio. 

Upon my arrival back to Houston, I realize that the next few weeks, which also happen to be holidays, will be extremely busy. I warn my family that I might not be able to do much during the holidays.


We have already planned The Upside Down Christmas Party and Art Show.  It is a tradition for the studio.  We hang the tree from the ceiling, and it is decorated from anything on your person, in your car or found.  The party is pretty much planned, and the visiting artist has their work hung.

The first part of the DBU job takes place in my computer and not in the studio. I'm up in the office on the computer gettings files ready. I know once the party is over we will have our physical materials to create this work of art.

The first job is to create a digital model of the sculpture so that I can have it enlarged quickly.  My traditional vendor for this project is Synappsys Digital Services in Oklahoma, but on such a quick deadline, I decide to use a local vendor.  Mental note: never use a new vendor on a tight deadline.

My job while working in the computer is to sculpt the folds so these will translate into the foam when it enlarged. This will save me lots of time when sculpting.

The chair is also recreated digitally. It was originally going to be milled in wood.  I cannot even list the amount of problems we had in recreating this beloved chair during the holidays on such a tight deadline.  I will end with saying it was with determination and an act of love that this chair came into being.

A digital representation of the praying man used for
milling foam. 

. 

Welcome Interns and others- Introducing our team.

I advertise for interns on my blog, through local colleges and facebook

For each project,  I create I put out a call for interns. Some of the interns that work on my projects have worked with me before.  Other interns are usually aspiring art students who want to learn and have new experiences.  Here is my list of my helpers for the sculpture for DBU. If you are an art  student at DBU and live in the Houston area and are interested in interning during your summer break, please feel free to contact me.

James
James is a student at Houston Community College.  An international student from the Philippines, James is a registered nurse who is now following his heart as an artist.  James is a wonderful asset to the studio. He is industrious and has a passion for "fixing things."  So far I have 3 torches, a compressor and a couple tools that are in better working order because of James.

Antoinette
Antoinette is in the Industrial Design department at the University of Houston.  She is  a hard worker and has the key element I look for in interns, passion and commitment.   I tell interns," I can teach them what needs to be done, but passion and commitment are something that you must have. "

Ephraim
Ephraim is the youngest of the interns, but with the holidays he is excited about getting to work with clay. Ephraim is a high school student from Carver Magnet School

Allison
Allison is a regular intern. She has worked with me on the Panther Project for Prairie View.

Shirley
Shirley is an assistant sculptor on the project.  She is trained a bit more than the other interns, and I count on her for specific jobs. She too helped with the Panther project.

OTHERS

Bill
Bill is my son-in- law and he can be counted on for helping me put things together. He is going to create my floor.

Christina
Christina is my daughter.  She has worked with me her entire life, and though she is very pregnant I can always give her some clay and a sample shoe and say, "rough this in."  Chris' claim to fame, "my sculpting is in the shoes of a lot of mom's projects."

Mike
My husband, Mike does not help in the traditional studio , though I have to say he has rallied to my aid with the problems with the rocking chair. God bless my husband.  Mike's forte is my digital and computer problems.  He fabricated the digital chair, and helped with other aspects of the project.


ART STUDENTS
If you are interested in learning more about internship in my studio here are some blog posts about what  it entails.
What is an Internship?
Looking for Interns ASAP

Summer Sculpture Internship

The Final Details

The final pose for the sculpture

Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon and
Dr. Blackburn pray over the project. 

I leave Dallas with a pose, an agreement and an extremely tight deadline.

A Chair?

While at Dallas Baptist University, we took a walk and looked at the art, as well as the placement of the  proposed sculpture.  Then we began to brainstorm about a pose.  At first Dr. Blackburn was posing, but it was understood that the sculpture was to be of a younger man, so I encouraged Dr. Blackburn's assistant, Shannen to step into the creative process.

Finalizing a pose and obtaining photographic reference is a huge part of the process. For those artists reading this blog, the rule of thumb is— you can never have enough photographs as reference.  We still had not settled on the chair, and as mentioned in a previous post, to expedite the process and make the deadline, I intended on finding a chair in Houston and taking it apart for mold making.

Then I was introduced to Dr. Cook's chair.

It is safe to say that I became emotionally involved with this chair.  More on that later.

The meeting

It is a whirlwind of a day.  The idea of this entire piece started from a sculpture that was seen elsewhere. Dallas Baptist University wanted to have a man praying to represent Dr. Gary Cook's investment into praying for the campus and the students. They wanted a sculpture that would demonstrate the passion and importance of interceding and seeking God for direction.

The original poses started our creative process.  

I came with a few ideas. The sculpture could not look like any others. It had to be an original design.  I had hoped that my investment into the processes would help us to get our creative juices going and finalize a design quickly while visiting DBU.  One thing was for sure, with such a short time to create this piece we had to move fast in every aspect of this job, including the design process.

The proposed sculpture had a traditional chair. Using a chair that I could find at a store and then make a mold of to cast in bronze would help me to make this almost impossible deadline of the first week in April.  That entire concept of using a store bought chair would change. As you read on you will see what I mean.


FOR ART STUDENTS
If you are interested in learning how I create my sketches for presentation I have several blog articles about this elsewhere.  They are created digitally using several different computer programs.  Here are some links

Presentation for a Park 
The completion of a project