STUPIDO!

I was cycling back from lunch break to the studio, and the old lady who lives at the end of the road was walking past me. She jerked her head back while directly looking at me as if to get my attention. I cycled a bit closer to her and thought she was going to ask me something. (I was feeling pretty proud that I might look like a local, enough to ask for directions or something). As I got closer she shouted directly at me."STUPIDO!!!" 
I swerved away laughing  hard to myself, if a bit bewildered. When telling friends back at the studio they said, "Ah! Now you are a local!" Apparently she is a local character who abuses many people: shouting and throwing water at them. The next day she shouted "Radical Chic!" at me as I cycled past, which made me feel pretty great! 

Pietrasanta and the studio are feeling more comfortable week by week. It's now not discovery so much as finding my own way amongst it all.  

I've been up to explore different quarries quite a few times.  I'm really interested in the contrast of surface and form of the quarried areas against the natural mountains. It's at once both a display of human's incredible power and yet questionable sensitivity to our surroundings. 

 

         
To experience the atmosphere and methods used in the quarries is incredible. They are exhausting, all-sensory places to be. The bright, reflective white, constant heavy, very dangerous machinery and necessary destruction of thousands (millions??) of years of built landscape is a full-on encounter.
I took some film of the way they extract the marble. The crane arm seems so human in its arching, clawing and grabbing. You can feel the sensation of the tension.

                                        

I've almost completely resolved my first marble piece and am happy with the outcome but want to simplify, extend and grow in scale lots of the ideas I have begun.

I went to the the quarry to boulder shop for my second sculpture. It felt like such a privilege to be there to select a stone to start work on. Amazing!
 
I am still really interested in the natural surface/form of the stone and using this to contrast with a machine affected part of stone. To me this is really interesting visually, viscerally and conceptually and talks of the process of extracting and using stone. 

Hex (a sculptor who was here working on the bronze residency from the RBS introduced me to another sculpture studio in town where they produce a lot of work using a robot. (Robomarmo :-) I found this pre-programmed robotic arm with a grinder attached to it, running 24hrs a day, strange and exciting. 

Nicola seemed like a really enthusiastic, smart guy, (he taught himself the technology to work with a robot after years of hand carving stone.) Because he still works directly by hand with stone and has done for years, he really understands the limitations and benefits of the machine. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to discuss a project I had been wanting to develop in 3D. Nicola seemed interested when I explained the basic idea so we have continued to work together and I'm getting increasingly excited as the project develops.

I wanted to 3D image some paintings I had been working on recently to see what they would look like as objects. I've been silhouetting natural and urban skylines and placing them together as if to be a reflection. 

As soon as I saw the skylines here I wanted to create a site specific painting. I worked to get the right photograph of a mountain scape. The quarry skyline was harder, as the quarries are often below the peak of the mountains. With some hairy drives, sympathetic friends and endless treasure maps drawn by locals who knew the mountains before and after quarrying, I found some great spots. 
This is what I am working on with Nicola (and the robot) to turn into a three dimensional form, that I plan to then finish by hand. 

The boulder I selected from the quarry came to the studio yesterday. It was so exciting to see it alone, in a clear context. It was more lovely than I remembered!

Helaine Blumenfield (a very successful sculptor, who was part of the selection panel who gave me this opportunity, has worked in Pietrasanta since the 80's and was the first female artist to work in the studio I am in) wonderfully described the need to sustain a connection with a piece you are working on, "otherwise if you leave it too long, don't pay it enough attention, you come back to it like an old lover that you forgot the reason you liked them in the first place." I felt the opposite with the boulder when it arrived in the studio - it confirmed our initial attraction and brought a whole world of extra vibes down from the mountain with it.

Is hurt part of love? Do we need straight lines to understand what a curve is? Do we think the morning is fresher because we have just been asleep? If I slice into this boulder, leaving some of the natural surface as it is, will I amplify the texture/forms that are already there? I think so, I hope so.

It's such a pleasure to spend time with artists from all over the world here. A lot of them are established and have so much experience to share. They keep telling me how young I am, which is nice!

Everybody shares a dreamer's mind, a real belief and appreciation in the importance of wonderment, beauty and succeeding in exploring/creating your own visions. It's a powerful atmosphere to be in.