the answer is blowing in the wind...

One morning a few months ago I got a phone call that took me on an unexpected journey. It was a call from an interior design firm. They were calling because they’d seen my mention in the newspaper back in February. I sat on the other end of the phone amused as they asked if they could visit me at my studio or showroom. I smiled from my little bed, looking across the room at this tiny room I work and sleep in. I listened as the assistant to a fabulous interior designer pitched an idea for a piece they wanted to commission me to create. I was being asked to create a sculpture that would serve as the base for a side table. This was unfamiliar territory for me because my first thoughts centered around constructing something strong enough to hold the heavy round of glass that would sit on top of this sculptural table base. I agreed to meet with them and to consider the project based on the information gathered at the meeting.

It is wildly scary to take on something you have never tried and yet at the same time it is so exciting. Looking back, it was like a crazy rollercoaster ride – this fearful yet exciting adventure. I questioned if I should take it on. At the same time, the incredibly overwhelming fear I felt made me convinced that I should because I knew I’d be taking a risk and opening up to something completely unfamiliar.

When I met with the interior designer, all of those thoughts were confirmed as we talked. She told me about her background and how she was once a painter. We talked about art. She asked me about my work and what inspired me. I watched her face light up when I told her that one element of my work is about capturing a moment and freezing movement. Then she pulled a magazine clipping from her binder of a scarf blowing in the wind and handed it to me. This was the inspiration for what she wanted.

Now, I must say, I don’t believe in consciences. I smiled at the fact that her photo was from a magazine (when most of my inspiration comes from magazine clippings). I also found myself blown away thinking about how my inspiration board had three images of women in dresses that were blowing in the wind, fabric stretched out away from their bodies like big flags blowing behind them. At the time, my calendar also revealed an image of a dancer twirling around a big piece of flowing fabric. The fact that she chose this particular image almost made me giggle because I knew without a doubt that this project was for me.

I knew that I could create the shapes and the illusion of light blowing fabric yet how to do this with strong materials would be another challenge. Plus the work needed to be three-dimensional and I have been creating two-dimensional works that hang on the wall for the past few years.

I found myself walking the aisles of a few hardware stores touching random pieces of metal and picking up unfamiliar things for their sculptural value. I gave my postcard to more than one overzealous hardware clerk who wanted to ask me if I needed help and then insist on telling me about whatever metal object I was admiring at the time. I eventually found myself in my small room with various gauges of wire, steel rods and butterflies in my stomach that left me feeling nauseated on a daily basis.

I sculpted and cried (I cried far more than I expected- sometimes while bending wire) and went to bed with tired hands and chest pains (from straining so hard to bend heavy wire). I dealt with feeling uncomfortable – physically uncomfortable from taking on such hard work as well as emotionally unsettled as I took on something new. I created with four different gauges of wire and tried out new techniques of finishing the work. I considered what the sculpture would look like from different angles. I finally started to see the beginning glimpses of what I wanted to create. A few meetings, emails and phone calls with the design firm and a sculpture was born.

At the moment we are just waiting for the glass to arrive to complete this work of art.
All I can say is that I am so glad that I took on the project! I feel like I have grown so much because of it!

The finished product! (photos from two different angles)