2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Petite Pieces
By: SISSY MCKEE
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Perception comes in all shapes, sizes, textures and colors. Since perception is the driving force behind every decision and idea we experience, it can be interpreted in numerous ways. For many students at Clemson, they have chosen to pursue the challenge of interpretation in visual arts. All different mediums of art provide a vehicle of expression for an artists' perception of anything from the physical to metaphysical. One form of art recognized for three-dimensional expression is sculpture.
Director of the Rudolph E. Lee Gallery, Denise Woodward-Detrich, wanted to see and exhibit artists' creations in the realm of small-scale sculpture. Sculpture is traditionally approached and critiqued on much larger scales than what Woodward-Detrich had in mind for the exhibition, but that is what she wanted -- a small interpretation of an artists' energy. So she set the criteria for the exhibition, found juror Judith Shea and sent out a call for entries. Out of all the entries, 14 pieces were selected for display at Clemson's Rudolph E. Lee Gallery as the finalists in True Copy 3: Clemson National Small Sculpture Exhibition.
The exhibition is limited to small sculpture works that must not exceed 12 inches in measurement in addition they must be made of bronze or any other material that can be cast. By choosing materials that can be cast, Woodward-Dietrich throws another element into the criteria. The sculpture is a permanent substance that is long lasting and difficult to change dramatically. Therefore, creating something that can be viewed as permanent leaves the artists to take their interpretation of the shows specifications as well as what she or he is trying to make the audience understand through her or his work. The artists' work may be an interpretation of any political, social or even speculative subject. Woodward-Dietrich hoped to see pieces that would be small interpretations of our world and the ever present of mass production in industry pitted against the individual, small, one-of-a-kind sculpture. The works on display can be perceived as representing everything from how an individual associates with the physical world around him to political statements and conformity and socio-economic injustice. Not only do the pieces stand as individual interpretations, but Woodward-Dietrichalso arranged them in the gallery as to let them work together to create other statements about society and the world.
The woman charged with choosing the final pieces to be displayed is juror Judith Shea of Long Island, N.Y. She has the challenge of narrowing down the entries to create a display for the show. Shea studied at the Parsons New School of Design in New York City in the mid-1970s before pursuing a career in the art industry. Her achievements range from multiple National Endowment for the Arts: Individual Artist Fellowships in Sculpture to being awarded the Arts International-Lila Wallace Reader's Digest International Artist Award. In 1993 the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pa., commissioned Shea to create a sculpture. Now, Shea's "No More Monument" is located at the center. Shea has exhibited much of her work over the last three decades. The 14 works chosen are displayed in Lee Hall are from artists from all over the United States.
Douglas K. Casebeer's, the program director of ceramics and sculpture at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado, piece "Tornado" is on display in the True Copy 3 exhibition. Casebeer describes his perception of work as "Reverential relationships of daily routines between archetypal forms of storage and nourishment." "Tornado" incorporates a gloss finished structure resembling a home surrounded by bronze-cast trees. Woodward-Dietrich explained this piece can be perceived as the staple protective force in nature is the tree, which is represented in solid cast bronze, is shielding the thin metal structure, that may be perceived as a home, from the chaos and elements of the world, like a tornado.
Sculptor Aldwyth is a resident from Hilton Head Island on the coast of S.C. His piece titled "Device" incorporates used materials including a link of iron chain and various size nails. "Device" has a very gothic and dark element to its form. Aldwyth's artist's statement for the piece verbalizes the concept behind "Device," "In these days of escalating technology, it is only natural for artists to incorporate these new discoveries in their work. Chain stores compete to provide the latest in technology. Galleries and Museums vie for the newest creation. Yesterday's hot items automatically become obsolete today as the visionary anticipates the avant-guard." Aldwyth leaves the materials and design to the interpretation of the viewer. Its dark and rough textures incorporated with its weathered and old appearance leaves the perception that physical torture devices of the past have merely been transformed into devices in the mind.
In contrast to the more abstract pieces of Casebeer and Aldwyth, Joy Kroeger Beckner of Chesterfield, Mo., has her piece "So Good to See You" on display at Clemson as well. "So Good to See You" is a more of a personal statement about one's interaction with the world. It is an elegantly detailed bronze-cast Dachshund glancing happily up to the audience. Beckner's bronze-cast dachshunds have won many awards from the National Sculpture Society Silver Medal and have also received four Best in Shows. Her dachshund represents a more emotional relationship any animal lover can relate to, the title explains all. Her works reflects her inspirations in the details of physical elements and textures of animals and views her works as, "classical realism, from hounds to humans."
The other pieces of work on display are "Mother's Eye," mixed materials of glass by Jeri Burdick of Eutawville, S.C.; "Red Sandblasted Carved Teapot," by Jim Connell of Rock Hill, S.C.; "Deny," cast bronze and glass by Jonathan W. Hils of Norman, Okla.; "Exports," cast bronze by Nancy E. Lemon from Clemson, S.C.; "Pigsty-Mobile," glass and mixed materials by Kemp Mooney of Atlanta, Ga.; "Totem III," cast bronze by Matthew Scott of Indianapolis, In.; "Head" by Patricia Shaw of Chapel Hill, N.C., "Sugar Coated," by Paula Smith from Rock Hill, S.C.; "Snake Womb," mixed materials by Theresa Sporer from Elberton, Ga.; "Chaos #3," cast bronze by Michael Warrick of Little Rock, Ar.; and "Space Head" by Winston A. Wingo of Spartanburg, S.C.
True Copy 3: Clemson National Small Sculpture Exhibition is on display in Rudolph E. Lee Gallery through Feb. 7. Admission is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
