96F-1   "Renegade"

Build number:	96F-1 (lifetime start #70)
Title:	"Renegade"
Date:	January 1
Location:	Venice Breakwater, on the flat
Start:	not recorded
Height:	3.5 feet
Base:	1.6 feet
Photography:	2 rolls NPS, 1 roll TMX120, Pentax 6X7 w/100mm

Comments (from my 1996 notes) "Beautiful warm clear day. Bruce was on duty, having just rescued a suicide attempt. I built way out on the isthmus and dug for fine sand. Under the fine was a layer of very coarse sand, which made for interesting patterns in the pile. Good pile, good concentration and I liked the results. Lots of people out, including some regulars. The 'Penguin Swim' happened as I worked. Met several interesting people, including Johann who was making a nice castle for 1996 south of me." "A fairly traditional sculpture. Long smooth curves, a nice way to bring in the new year. I left a large panel smooth, then carved some petroglyphs in it. Various forms, some made up. Neat effect, powerful figures. Rough interior ribs. Comments, September 2000 This was the first full-bore practical outworking of the Small Sculpture Revolution. Conceived as quick ways to keep my hand in, they evolved into this year's 11-hour extravaganzas of design. The first small sculpture (95F-9) was a surprise, done simply to test a new form and new tools. Quickness of piling met quickness of carving and as I pounded sand for the following big sculptures (95F-10, F-11) I remembered how simple the little one was. A lark really, fun and lacking seriousness. But real sculptures were human-scale. 95F-12 was another small sculpture, done primarily to test the last tool in the original suite: #4 Steel Finger, then called the "Spoon" or "Hollower." Designed for boring holes and widening them it wound up working for other things until it bent due to a badly designed handle. It was a nice little sculpture, done to a higher standard than its predecessor. Two days later I did the main event. Called the "new standard size," 95F-13 was a big two-stage job for which the new small form was the extension. The short winter day passed too quickly to finish it very well. As December passed day by day I kept thinking about sculptures. One thing became clear: if I could cut each element of a sculpture in half, the pile could be half the size and would require only about one-sixth as much sand. I set out at the end of the month to test this. December 30. I head for the beach with a new idea: use the new extension form as the main form, and the old wastebasket extenstion on top for more height. The test failed because I allowed water to overflow the form and run down the sides, undercutting the base. It stood just long enough to show that the idea would work. I looked around for finer sand, found some and built a short pile which was half carved when the rising tide took it away. The proof of the concept came in being able to make two piles. So, the new year came in. With it came a new version of the traditional "let's celebrate not being in Kansas with an outdoor activity." And more than a tradition started: I didn't know it, but it was a real revolution, coming in the way real ones always do. Sneaky.

Top of Page Library Human Touch Museum Catalog Access: 1998 1997 1996 1995 All contents copyright 2000 by Larry Nelson lord_chaos@compuserve.com

96f01rpt.htm 2000 September 15
Image size change September 16