the need to create

I am thankful for the chance to create. When I was a little girl I carried a pencil and a folded piece of paper with me everywhere I went. That is until one day when I accidentally stabbed myself in the leg with the pencil and I freaked my mom out provoking a long lecture about lead poisoning. So, instead of giving up this habit completely, I switched to carrying a blue crayon and kept my habit quietly.
I was eager to capture what I saw. Maybe it meant drawing a picture, maybe it meant writing down a memory or capturing a moment, maybe it meant having opportunity to draw or doodle when bored. In any case, this piece of paper was important. This is a habit that has continued on in my life. My purse is usually filled with many pens and folded pieces of paper. My backpack has pens and sometimes there are sets of stationery and note cards so that I can write a letter if I want regardless of where I am.
Sometimes we forget, overlook, or bury our dreams. Yet what I have realized is that I have always felt the need to create. It is something I simply do. I wake up and begin to write or work on a piece of art - even if it is only in my mind that I am working in it, figuring it our before my hands go to work. Sometimes I keep a pad of paper & a pen next to the bed because I may wake up with an idea that needs to be captured before it gets lost in sleep. 
I love to keep my hands busy making something beautiful. I have made jewelry from hand-blown Italian glass beads. I have done calligraphy. I have created puppets and stuffed animals. I have painted pottery. I have made costumes. I’ve dabbled in theatrical makeup. I have filled many sketchbooks full of drawings of people I have seen on the bus or at the library or somewhere in passing. I have made patchwork quilts. I have painted with acrylic paints and created sculptures from wire. I have made collages and greeting cards. I have a list of ways in which I’d like to create – things I want to do in my lifetime – like make handmade paper and do mosaics and the list goes on and on. 

I love and am passionate about being creative. I am grateful for my imagination, the time to create and hands that still work, despite the ways in which I overwork them.

an interview...

The beautiful Jessie agreed to interview me and came up with some great questions.
Sit back and have a good read… Maybe by the time you read and leave me a few comments, I will be back from my self imposed homework binge.

1. What got you started creating figurative sculpture? Why figurative? Why wire? When did it start? Where do you see it heading? (ok...that was like five questions in one. Basically, i'm asking you to tell ALL! ) :)

Hold on to your seat – this answer is long-winded but a testament to how all things come together…
Since childhood I have always done lots of drawing. I kept the bullies away in elementary school at times by drawing them a great picture. I impressed family and friends by being able to draw those little sketches in the backs of magazines for art instruction schools. In junior high my music teacher would pay me to make program covers for orchestra concerts. I loved to draw so much that I used to carry a sketchbook with me on the bus. I was so painfully shy and in my shyness I simply kept to myself and observed others. My sketchbooks were hand-sized so I could draw people around me without them really noticing what I was working on. In my twenties after a period of not making art at all, I found a box of pastels, some butcher paper and begin to create again, making big drawings of the faces of people. At the same time I discovered this bead shop near the coffee house where I worked. For months I spent any money I had on beads and supplies. I drew pictures of people, made earrings and cut up fashion magazines making collage. Thinking back on it now, that was a time of great exploration.

I got totally immersed in the idea of capturing facial expressions for a few years and in my late twenties I began to exhibit my work in coffeehouses and local businesses both in Sacramento and San Francisco. I enjoyed the work I was making and yet as I created, the list of things I wanted to try simply got longer. I moved on to sewing these haphazard patchwork blankets for a while, giving one to each of my family members and close friends. Then one day while waiting for my friend to get her hair cut I spotted a bead store across the street from her salon. While wandering around the store I found some rolls of wire along with an advertisement for workshops to learn how to make wire candleholders. I gathered up the information and bought a spool of wire and yet because the workshops were pretty expensive (well, 75 bucks for 2 hours) I never went to a workshop. Instead I went back to the bead store a few times and in simply looking at the candleholders and experimenting with the wire I figured out how to make my own. Once I’d made a few candleholders I was bored with the idea and went back to drawing however, drawing became a bit dull to me as well. What I wanted was to create something with my hands. I went back to the wire only this time began to create twelve inch tall wire men by wrapping wire in a spiral like manner. From there I stretched further, working from a desire to freeze movement. All of those years of watching people on the bus came back as I began paying close attention to people around me – the way they moved, the way their clothing wrinkled from ordinary wear, the folds in the fabric from pushing ones shirt sleeves up, the way there are wrinkles in pants at the bend of the knee. My observations come out in my sculpture. As for the fashion magazines that were once material for collages, now I sit among magazines and flip though them looking for interesting clothing almost always shown in movement on the body of someone. When I find the images that thrill me I study them for awhile, allowing myself a chance to map out just what steps are needed to create a sculpture out of what I see on a page. From there I begin to create. I like using wire because it has a certain strength and underscores my admiration for strong women. As a medium it has a certain amount to permanence to it as well. Some of the wire I use is the rugged kind of wire generally used to mend fences. I like the idea of the possibility that my work has the strength to live on beyond my life. In a nutshell, I guess you could say I started doing figurative sculpture because I am just really into observing people and find myself continually inspired given the chance to simply people watch.

2. In terms of your art, do you have (or have you ever had) a mentor that is important to you?

I don’t know if I have had a mentor in the typical sense of working with someone or seeking advice from them. I have had certain artists that I’ve followed and to a certain extent, envied. This healthy jealousy has pushed me to continue making art and to take risks. For instance, I remember two years out of high school reading an article about Kara Walker. We are the same age so I was just so taken back that she was such an incredible artist and that she was working and going after her dreams. In my mid-twenties I started meeting artists through a San Francisco organization called ArtSpan. I met a circle of friends who in their ordinary work as artists have taught me so much about simply creating and getting work out into the world. I've also spent time reading more than a dozen books about the business of art.

3. What, in your life, has surprised you the most?

I think I am surprised each time I am able to make art and share it with the world. As a child my mom always said art was a hobby and in high school when I said I wanted to be an artist it was completely discouraged. Being raise in a family where money was always tight, my mom wanted me to get a job that paid well and when I said I wanted to be an artist, well that did not go over well. It took me years to show her that this was a worthwhile pursuit and I think after all of this time she has had a chance to see how much it means to me. She’s come around and is one of my biggest fans, always at every show and promoting my work all the time.

4. If your art could change the world, in what ways would you want it to do that?

Wow- what a question! I could contemplate this indefinitely. Since you have been reading this now for an eternity (are you still there?) I’ll be brief… I’d like my art to change the world simply by conjuring up feelings and ideas in people that words and music can’t express. I don’t expect my work to be for everyone. Some folks may look at a wire dress and see it as frivolous, superficial and fun and yet others may see beyond the exterior and see the soul I have captured… I don’t know if I can take on the world but I do come baring gifts for all – one person at a time…

5. You have just been commissioned to create a very large mural on the side of an important building that, in some way, tells the story of your life. Without worrying about your level of talent, what visions come to mind?

Another hard question and yet I was tell you what comes to mind first – I see a person climbing the wall, surpassing obstacles, overcoming.

kristine in the news...

Sacramento News and Review
January 20, 2005
Art Pick of the Week
Girls, girls, girls 

By Saunthy Nicolson-Singh

San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, July 27, 2001
Full-figured women get artist wired
By Venise Wagner, Chronicle Staff Writer

more about kristine

Kristine Mays was born in 1969 and raised in San Francisco, CA. She is a self-taught artist and has developed a way of expressing the human form through wire by simple experimentation, curiosity, and a passion to create.

Her work with wire began about nine years ago as she was inspired by the idea of exploring the development of transforming a straight line into something of volume. Her works ultimately become something familiar both physically and emotionally as the human form emerges from wire and causes one to think about the ways in which our outer shells often speak to what is going on inside.

Kristine has shown her work in various art shows all over the Bay Area and Northern California since 1993. Collectors of her work include people from all walks of life, executives at GAP, as well as a board member for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

All work is for sale unless otherwise indicated. Sculptures are one-of-a-kind, so if sold they’re gone. However, new works will be posted continually. If you are interested in something you can contact Kristine at kristine_mays@yahoo.com or leave a comment here. Any and all questions are welcome.

FAQ about my work with wire

frequently asked questions about my work with wire…

WHEN DID YOUR WORK WITH WIRE BEGIN?
My work with wire began about nine years ago as I purchased some wire to make candleholders for Christmas gifts. I played around with the wire, becoming quickly bored with the candleholder idea and yet as I played, I became inspired by the idea of transforming a straight line into something of volume. Having come from a background of drawing faces I was already accustomed to using a pencil on a flat surface to create mass and dimension. With wire I wanted to express the same only in a three dimensional form. My first projects were little twelve-inch men made of wire. As time progressed I played around with the idea of capturing movement, and freezing it and my sculptures continued to grow in size. All of my current works are life-size.

DOES ONE PIECE OF WIRE OR MANY COME TOGETHER TO CREATE A SCULPTURE ?
The sculptures are made up of thousands of pieces of wire, cut into random lengths (from as small as 2 inches to as long as 2 feet or more). Overlapping the pieces of wire creates strength and holds it all together.

WHAT TOOLS DO YOU USE?
While many people ask if I weld or use heat to bind the pieces together, the answer is no. I use wire, a set of pliers and my hands.

HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH THE SHAPE OF THE SCULPTURE? DO YOU USE A PERSON OR A MOLD OF SOME SORT?
I do not use any molds or live models. I refer to pictures and work out the shapes in my head before transforming them into sculpture. I am basically working from my mind’s eye.

WHERE DO YOU COME UP WITH IDEAS FOR SCULPTURES?
I search books and magazines for photos of people in motion. My love for fashion comes through because I spend so much time looking through fashion magazines. I am fixated on the look of clothing as it is being worn. I attempt to capture the folds, creases and movement of fabric while at the same time, revealing invisible inhabitants within the clothing.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A SCULPTURE?
Because I have worked with wire for so long I am getting faster at creating pieces. The real work happens in my head as I figure out how to create something of volume from a straight line. With regard to the physical time it takes to create a sculpture, dresses tend to take up to 50-60 hours.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU WORK AT IT?
I sculpt two hours each day. At one point I used to work on wire sculpture for hours, not paying attention to how much time I’d sent on projects. Due to problems with carpal tunnel syndrome I am now forced to pay attention to how I use my hands and wrists. I'd work longer if I could. I intend to work in wire until it completely bores me or until my hands will no longer allow me to continue.