Mentor Archetype - A Relationship of Growth

Mentorship is a dynamic bond. The mentor invests time and wisdom in the student. Reciprocally, the student commits to listening and probing for clarification. It’s an ongoing lesson - a long term engagement that grows and changes, as do the participants.

We are not always aware of the many mentor/mentee relationships we experience. They are not necessarily formal arrangements. But we guide and are guided through trust and a respect to enable growth.

As this pair of characters developed, I felt there was something missing. After the primary gestures were established, I realized they should not be looking the same direction. Each is focused on a different point. The mentor is more aware of the surroundings while scanning the horizon. The mentee concentrates on the direction he/she is about to leap.

Archetypes are the foundation of my characters. They have roles to play in a grand drama. Through dozens of sketches that precede each sculpture, I imagine and explore possibilities for positioning each in its surrounding space. Figure and space have a similar relationship to the mentor and mentee – a state of being and not being. Knowing and not knowing. Each explores the state of the other.

Retelling

Before the written word, there were stories told through song, dance, poems and paintings. The myths of our lives are what connect us to the lives lived before. We stand on the shoulders of others. Some of the lessons they learned are bound into our DNA. Some are bound into images that trigger memories. Some are resurfaced through sounds or smells.

We are not the masters of the universe, but tiny pebbles tumbling along the river bed, carried along by the current, spun around in the eddies, then flushed again by the next freshet. We are not independent, but flow with the community. We reinforce each other. We depend on each other. We are each other. Retelling bears witness to the flow of life through the flow of memories and visions. We are here now. We share.

Hope

If we have learned anything from 2020, it is that anything can happen. We have all been bruised, isolated, scared, squeezed (more financial than physical), abused by leaders who put themselves first, and forced to be patient with any service we may require.

This won’t last forever. But normal as we knew it is over. It is never too soon to envision how change can be for the better. That vision of change is called hope. Cast your net wide. See what you can draw into your life.

Mask of Athena

This is a tribute to the Portland, Oregon woman who confronted “federal troops” during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations. While some chose rocks and bottles to challenge authorities, she wore her nakedness as a mask of courage to confront the federal troops.

I rendered her in a rainbow palette. From my perspective, we are all people of colors – many colors. We cannot limit people by the color of the skin they are born into. Skin color is not our choice. We can, however, elevate ourselves by through the colors of our character. We have the option to accept many colors into our lives. That is our choice for how we relate and function within our communities.

This sculpture is both a figure and a mask. The nature of a mask is twofold. It can disguise the wearer to conceal her/his identify. Or, it can amplify an archetypal quality. The Mask of Athena is a reminder that we can choose to confront injustice and absurd abuse of power. It doesn’t take a shield or a sword or rocks and bottles. It just takes the courage to expose the naked truth. 

Missing Person

The form before it became space.

The original human form touched all six surfaces of the cube. This is what remains after the clay figure was packed in a plaster mix and the figure then removed. Negative space is all that remains of the missing person.

“Missing Person” was created for the 2918 International Sculpture Conference in Portland, Oregon.

Torn: The space between the conscious and unconscious state

The world as we knew it is being torn apart beneath our feet. What was once stable ground is now uncertain.

As the fissure expands, a new world is revealed, new possibilities. From chaos comes order.

“Torn” symbolizes a temporary state of chaos as it gives way to a new reality. It is much like the nebulous zone between consciousness and unconsciousness – the state where images reveal themselves. Those images lead ultimately to new archetypes.

There is a way forward,but it may not be immediately obvious. The Greek definition of apocalypse is not about disaster, but the invisible being revealed. We need to look beyond the moment to the opportunities as they are unveiled. Endure the uncertainty with confidence that something wonderful is indeed happening.

Mixed media sculpture.

Clarity: A necessary step toward the portal

This short video is the result of a series of sketches that began in 2017. I’ve been exploring these characters whenever and whenever they reoccur in my imagination. In the past month, it was time to take the sketches to a realized form. This painting/sculpture is a combination of ideas that didn’t conform to either 2- or 3-dimension.

Managing the Creative Process

I have a number of methods for generating ideas. It’s a result of a career as a creative director. Recognizing when I’m stuck and managing how I get unstuck is always an opportunity to take a step forward.
When I’m ready to create a new sculpture, I just start drawing. Anything. It doesn’t matter what. The important thing is to do something. Make marks on paper. Then I look at it for a few minutes. Maybe draw over the lines and add some shading. Look at it some more. Turn the page upside down. If nothing happens, skip back a few pages in my sketch book to see what I’ve drawn recently. Then return to the newest sketch. That usually helps me see something in the new sketch I didn’t see before.
The slightest hint of an alternative is a point of exploration. What if? What else can I do with it? I might redraw it and exaggerate an edge or shape. Then, redraw it again several times, modifying it a little with each version. That usually results in a fresh path of exploration. Then, it’s simply a process of pushing that idea further with successive sketches until I have something different from anything I’ve created previously.
Being stuck is nonsense. It’s a temporary lack of momentum. The trick is to create momentum in any direction and once the ideas are moving again, each will feed the next.

Waiting for Del Toro

I’ve never written a novel, a film script or anything longer than a 20-minute tutorial. But, I have a hundred film titles and first lines. Maybe 3 hundred titles for novels with the first few sentences.

“Waiting for Del Toro” is one that has been in my head for a while. It’s not a film or a novel. It turned into a sculpture which is no small commitment of time. I’ve read Guillermo del Toro’s “Cabinet of Curiosities” which seemed like a place I’ve been before. I have seen several of his films and appreciate his sense of mythology and mystery. His imagination and his ability to convert ideas into grand visuals is unequaled. I don’t share his fascination with monsters, but lean more toward to more benevolent archetypes.

But, somewhere along the way, I decided to have some fun with my own interpretation of the Del Toro mystic and/or what his imagination must be like. I’m sure it is fertile ground.

This piece is both consistent and significantly different from most of my work, depending on how you see it. Regardless, it was fun to create and to imagine it as part of Guillemero del Toro’s art collection someday.