99H-2 "Boulders"

The week has been calm, and the neap tides should have left the beach alone long enough for fine sand to gather. I had planned this as a bigger sculpture, but Lorna expects me to show up at the fellowship meeting with something more than guacamole in my head, so it'll be a hybrid.

Build number:	99H-2 (lifetime start #153)
Title:	"Boulders"
Date:	January 9
Location:	Venice Breakwater, on the flat
Start:	0815; building time: 8 hours (includes videography)
Height:	4.75 feet (short form with free-pile extension)
Base:	1.6 feet (cylindric)
Photography:	1 roll TMX135-24, LX w/85mm; 55 minutes video w/XL1

Dry air blows outward, over the mountains that look as if they're only a mile away. The view is great, but I hope this doesn't last. One of the objectives today is to videotape the construction process. I don't know if the Japanese will ever come across with a copy of the tape they made last year, so I'll do it myself. It'll help answer all those questions from Larry and Nita. Some I can shoot handheld, but while I'm building the pile I'll put the camera on a tripod and use the remote. At each step of the process, I set up the equipment. This requires washing and drying my hands, then getting the tripod in the right place. I'll bet Cecil B. DeMille never had to put up with all this. Sand sculptor, grip, director, dolly operator, etc. Where's a DGA trainee when you need her? The only person around is Simon, who drives down to polish his truck and watch the construction process. He's busy, and the ex-surfer talking to him doesn't look interested in either videography or construction. The sand is excellent, in a thick layer so it's easy to dig up. It has lots of shells and rocks, so when the time comes to build the extension I filter sand into the tub, then use the clean slurry. It makes a great extension, solid. It takes on interesting bends as it goes up, and up, and up. I finally call it quits at over two feet. There's still slurry left, but the short day is racing, and my idea for the sculpture won't allow for heavy upper works. All those bends and leans in the extension begin to suggest something else. Well, I'll work with that and see what happens down below. Andy Goldsworthy, among other activities, stacks rocks. Round rocks, angular ones, it doesn't matter. They're truly amazing, photographed against a wild sky, these gravity-defying boulders one atop another and another. The planes and bends in the extension suggest one of these. With the dry offshore breeze continuing, I leave the form on the lower course and carve the extension. The top leans west, and gets a large flat face with its upper corner taken out in a concave cut. A tunnel cuts through to the east. Below that, the hollow boulder tucks in. Around to the south is a Calderesque arch. At first it looks terrible, just hanging there, but below it I carve a rib reaching up and through to the inside of the top tunnel. The rib curves outward, then tucks in and ends well down in the main pile. Around to the right, I carve a space and hollow it out behind a long curve. The beach is busy. It must be the last holiday hurrah. Many people are from the east, all glad to be here instead of their cold snowbound home towns. Rudy, apparently recovered from last week's cold, and his wife pass on their usual run. "We'll be back in half an hour to check your progress." On the sculpture's west side, below the second boulder, a long rib springs out and down, then curves in to the ground. I carve this out to connect with a space on the south side, letting in plenty of the strong daylight. The Calder arch has turned into a unifying element tying the first and second "boulders" together vertically on the east side. It's still a little awkward from some angles. I wonder if I'll ever do a sculpture whose every element looks good from every angle, while also beautiful in ensemble. It's an interesting search. "You have made progress." "I had to. I knew you were coming back to check up on me." "It looks good. Moving along well." They're an interesting couple. Popular conception is that there should never be any differences between spouses, but these two are like two angular rocks constantly tapping, but staying together. Rich has to sing tonight. I wish I could make the concert, but they wouldn't postpone it because of the tide. I clean up the sculpture so he can get a last round of photos. Details. I've discovered that carving a small detail--outlining an element, undercutting an edge, a small curl where two elements join--can change the look of a sculpture greatly. After Rich leaves, I work on cleanup and detail, amplifying here, smoothing there, choosing which knobs and humps to leave. The sculpture is complex enough that this takes some time. Passersby have noticed the complexity. In this case, it's a little less blatant than other recent sculptures. Something has happened. Perhaps it's the regular practice, but now they gracefully combine complexity and beauty. Someone describes it as elegant. This sculpture sings. Its in-and-out curves fit well, delighting my eye and the inner sense that guides the making. It's interesting to videotape, and I hope that all three dimensions will come out on the flat screen. Through the day several regulars have visited. One fellow had seen some sculptures but never met me; he asked if I used my handprints as my signature. Just as I finish, Jim Lowe, whom I haven't seen for a couple of weeks, comes by in a truck. "Yah, we heard you were here so we came up to give you some abuse." His partner is Merrill. They linger in their warm truck bathed in sunset light. I'm beginning to shiver, underfed, underclothed, busy. And I've not done any photography yet. Light comes and goes. Bands of thin high wispy cloud block the sun, then release it. I alternate video and still photography and suddenly the light is gone. How'd the day pass so quickly? It's time to load up and I realize there's a big problem. Somehow I have to hold the bicycle up, with the pack on my back and the camcorder on my front. Fortunately, two men looking at the sculpture agree to help. I need a better way to carry the videocamera, or a smaller one. Feeling like a pack mule, I thank the helpers and wobble off up the bike path. Video allows instant gratification. Rather than wait for photographs, I can watch the rushes right now as I write the footage onto a VHS cassette for Larry. Might as well do this while cooking and eating a badly needed dinner. Most of the tape came out well. The sand sample shot is off; I misjudged where the camera was pointed. And I only thought I started the camera for the filter-loading sequence. Still, it's a good introduction to the making of hybrid sculpture. Good. I don't have to do it again. The sculpture is fascinating. I've never done anything like it. Rather than a bunch of parts masquerading as a complete piece, this one really is one thing. Inside, outside, springing parts, straight parts, and they fit. I like it.

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