This is a sculpture I have created for a body of work that will become my senior show. It's untitled for now as I am still reacting and evolving to some of the meanings that I attribute to this piece. I began by working from a tree limb (i think it is a Beech) with tools like Lancelot blades, adzes, hammers and gouges. My recent experiments with forging steel have led to an interest in incorporating the material into my sculpture due to its seductive and striking qualities. I feel that the tension surrounding steel, particularly in the forming, shaping, hammering, and twisting processes is something of a meditation. The physical ways in which curvaceous forms are produced draws from within me, two extremes of my personality. The blows required to shape steel need to be strong and also accurate. In this way, creation and destruction, liberation and control are brought to an area of consciousness whereupon the experience of simply processing the material is part of the final product. Essentially, I am proud of this piece because it exemplifies some of the areas of art making that I have sought out to study in college. I also feel that I have aired upon an interesting texture that causes the piece to vibrate between the form of a horn and of a fleshy limb. In this way, I feel that I am trying to unite a human consciousness with an animal one. I feel as if people forget that our biological makeups dictate many aspects of our lives in ways that we are still trying to understand. This can all boil down to my interpretation of instinct. People are not perfect and I believe that our biological roots are the cause for it. Often times, this manifests itself in extraordinary and brutal ways.
