It was a good day before I even got into the studio...

Why? Because one door down from my studio is a granite counter top shop. They have a dumpster that caught my attention as I drove by and parked. There was a lot of granite sticking out, so I took a closer look and found some great pieces to gather. I must admit it felt weird to take stuff out of the dumpster, but the holes they cut into the granite for the sink produces a perfect oval to reuse as something else. So, I went dumpster diving before I worked on the finishing Curl.

Below are two shots of this piece. When I started on this one I was thinking a lot about my St. Louis roots and what icons have shaped my subconscious. Partially because of the sculpture symposium I am starting/organizing with some fellow sculptors...which is set to take place just north of St. Louis in the early Spring of 2010. The three other sculptors and I have been brainstorming about why we as mid-westerners are compelled to make things. I thought about what other cultures have made and my mind wandered to the wheel and then to the arch and aqueducts and cathedrals and (duh!) the St. Louis Arch.


This is my interpretation of an arch, using what appears to be a lighter feeling, one that isn't always present in other arches, because they are holding something up or they have both feet grounded. That is actually how this piece started, with both feet level flat on the floor.


After thinking about it more and moving the pieces around and watching the interactions of the negative space and the forms, I came to realize this piece was actually and arch that was continuing to curl, like the double helix or a vine or another other curling form. Bio mimicry was taking place long before the word was ever coined.

My sculpture, Curl, is an arch that is a piece of curl or part of something bigger...