Thomas Seawell
140KS Studio
tseawell@9plus.net
www.oldprintshop.com
1513 Park Street
Commerce, Texas 75428
903-886-3102
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Thomas Seawell140KS Studiotseawell@9plus.net 1513 Park Street |
Artist's Statement Statement for the 15th San Angelo National Ceramic Competition, 2005, in regard to my sculpture, INCAHILL. I approach clay as a collage medium – my sculpture are mixed media works using clay, glaze, plastic, metals, and sometimes, found objects. This means that many of the sections of a work are created with specific individualities but related to a core idea, at least in my beginning thinking. The way that I work always allows my thinking to move down different paths; what occurs in making a piece results from having worked at imagery for so long that I feel I can depend on that history of experiences to create a meaningful work. The original impetus for this work, however, was somewhat different from how it came to completion. |
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“Incahill” was built in sections related to the idea “hill”; it is, I suppose, reflections on my recent visit to the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu although I didn’t specifically think of that when beginning the piece – but, after all was said and done, the title is such an indication. Many of the surfaces are worked texturally or graphically. Unlike my wall sculptures that project forward from the wall in layers, using inner and outer developments of attached pieces, “Incahill” is a pedestal sculpture that projects upward but still works in layers and the use of attachments (what I like to call “thought pieces”). These pieces are selected from a very large stockpile of created clay “words”, “thoughts”, and “symbols” that hang on my studio walls. These one-of-a-kind forms are selected in relation to the main idea once the work core has reached a certain stage of resolution. This allows me to see the work in many ways since I can attach, remove, and replace with numerous options until it all seems to fall into place. On occasion, I will create some new small pieces appropriate to the immediate idea. The assemblage is than held together by ordinary hardware, both a necessity and a purposeful dissimilarity to clay. All of the above reflects my interests in the minutia and the all too much stuff of our time but avoids a literal explanation of the subject as I imagined it to be and to which I hope the viewer will react on their own in the translation. |
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