Wind, fire and tears were involved in the making
of this sculpture.
A winter wind whipped
bark and leaves from the stand of eucalyptus across the road from us onto our
porch. In the spirit of "if you
receive a lemon, make lemonade," I constructed two Giacometti-like
dancers, dipped them in wax and proceeded with the usual lost wax
procedure. The figures were cut into
pieces and mounted on appropriate wax cups. The multiple dips to form a ceramic
shell were performed. One dancer had actually been poured and the other was
waiting to be burned out. That's the fire.
Wood is harder to burn out than wax, but works just as well in the
end.
The tears came next when a friend,
by mistake, began hammering on my unburned piece, thinking it was her poured
one. Mistakes happen. But her tears were more deeply felt than as a
wrong craft step: she had learned that day that her husband had terminal
cancer! The dancer's shell could be
fixed, and was. Her husband died a few
months later./
The tango is an emotional dance.
The piece is in the way of an emotion-filled memorial to Hans.
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