Life is a Great Big Canvas

I  first learned about Lorenzo Ghiberti in an art history class I took in college, and I wrote a paper about the doors he created, The Gates of Paradise, and how they compared to Bernward's Bronze Doors of St. Michael's. Lorenzo Ghiberti was a shining star of the Early Italian Renaissance, best known for the aforementioned bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery. He was trained as a goldsmith and sculptor, and wrote Commentari, what may be the earliest autobiography of an artist. Ghiberi was born in 1378 In Pelago, near Florence. His father was Bartoluccio Ghiberti, a goldsmith, who taught his son the trade. Later, he worked for Bartoluccio de Michele, where the famous artist Brunelleschi also trained. In 1400, the Black Plague struck Florence, and to escape, Ghiberti moved to Rimini, where he helped complete frescoes in the castle of Carlo I Malatesta. The Sacrifice of Isaac Most of Ghiberti's career was spent working on commissions for the Florence Baptistery....

 I used to joke that I had the shape of a fertility goddess. Sometimes people would understand and laugh, sometimes people would give me a funny look and scratch their head in confusion. They had no idea what I meant. If you are one who doesn't know what this means, that's okay; let me introduce you to the Venus of Willendorf, a very early piece of art. The Venus of Willendorf is a small nude sculpture of a very ample woman with exaggerated sexuality. She is 4.4” high and made of limestone. She was discovered in 1908 during an archaeological dig near Willendorf, Austria, and now resides at the Naturohistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. This statue is believed to be one of the earliest pieces of art, and one of the earliest nude women in art. Scientists date her at 28,000 BC to 25,000 BC, during the Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, through a study of the stratigraphic sequence of the area. The oolitic limestone used for her carving is not local to the area w...

This is my project for this week, a semi-realistic male figure. I haven't named him yet, as someone suggested, because after another week or so, he will be recycled back into the clay bucket. It amazes me that I can do this. As I mentioned in the last entry, I did not think I was capable of doing this, yet every week, I find out that YES I CAN! I was wrong! I can sculpt! I am really enjoying this, and thinking that I may want to pursue sculpture further, once this class is over with. You know, sometimes I like finding out I am wrong.

I am taking a sculpture class this semester. Three weeks into it and I am able to sculpt a foot that looks realistic. I am so proud of myself, because I didn't think I was capable of sculpting anything to look good. So this is my foot. I sculpted this while watching an instructional video and while examining my own foot. Something interesting that I learned, is that the great sculptor Rodin mentored another sculptor, Ivan Mestrovic. Mestrovic in turn, mentored Kenneth Glen, who mentored a number of artists, many of which are professors at Academy of Art University, including the writer of the curriculum for the sculpting class I am taking. So artistically speaking, this makes me the great-great-granddaughter of Rodin.