Several months ago, as I sat watching Mark Knize sculpting at a Tracy Art League meeting, I wanted to jump up and start taking photos of him as he worked. I was amazed to watch a human face being created from a lump of clay. Taking photos wasn't possible, of course, but the impression that event left with me has led to this project...photographing Tracy-area artists as a way of exploring the creative process. Mark works with wood, with clay, with metal...he seems to be willing to try anything. When he finds that he needs a tool to accomplish something specific, he makes it himself. After retiring from his work as a scientist at Lawrence Livermore Lab, Mark turned to art and has made a name for himself with his wooden designs and his sculptures of well-known Tracyites. As I got to know Mark and his wife, Gayle, whose current paintings focus on intimate scenes from her family life, I commented that Mark's work seems to be more about the public while Gayle's was more about the personal. Mark corrected me, pointing out that the process involved in sculpting a live person was very personal. He takes a number of precise photos of the person he's sculpting and spends hours with the model. Mark talked about the process of shaping someone's face. While his goal is to create a good likeness of the person and he works from photos, he has to make decisions about the final look. How much is the person smiling, how old does the person appear? It is still within his hands to convey a tone, establish a mood, create a feeling by the way he shapes the sculpture. All of this creates an intimate connection with his work. It's a weighty task and reminds me of my power and responsibility as a photographer. I took several photos of Mark with the bust of Sam Matthews, but I chose one to display in black and white. The viewer may make assumptions about Mark based on his expression or the tone of the photo, but that is only one view of him. Certainly makes me nervous at times to present portraits of people - am I conveying them accurately? As they want to be seen? Does it matter?
1 Comment
Iroc Zee
4/15/2015 02:50:53 am
First, thank you for putting yourself and your art out here for everyone to see. I really appreciate that.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2022
AuthorTiffanie Heben is a photographer who has been inspired by the artists in her community |