UC BERKELEY 1965
CAST METAL SCULPTURE
In 1964 I was admitted to the UC Berkeley Master of Fine Arts program, but left without the degree after about a year. My full-time teaching at Lone Mountain College and Maia’s birth in 1965 took my time and focus away from the UC program. Before I left, I took classes in metal casting and welding, and made these sculptures.
CAST METAL SCULPTURE
In 1964 I was admitted to the UC Berkeley Master of Fine Arts program, but left without the degree after about a year. My full-time teaching at Lone Mountain College and Maia’s birth in 1965 took my time and focus away from the UC program. Before I left, I took classes in metal casting and welding, and made these sculptures.
Sand cast in aluminum 1965 (3 views)
11½” high on a turnable wood base.
11½” high on a turnable wood base.
Sand cast in aluminum, with black paint 1965 (2 views)
16½” high on a turnable wood base.
16½” high on a turnable wood base.
Sand cast in bronze 1965 (3 views)
c.8½” high, plus wood base.
c.8½” high, plus wood base.
Sand cast in bronze 1965 (2 views)
9 ¾” high plus wood base.
9 ¾” high plus wood base.
The sources for these shapes were Styrofoam cut-offs, leftovers from packaging forms that had been tossed out and retrieved for the class. I used these pieces with minimal alterations as I had done with the chunks of clay for my earlier sketches. I attached the pieces with glue and toothpicks that burned out in the metal casting process, as did the Styrofoam. The foam was nearly weightless, so there was no need for supporting armatures even for cantilevered sections.
The sand casting was done in the courtyard of the sculpture studio, and as the originals burned out there was only one solid metal cast for each piece. I cast two in aluminum (one of which I painted black) and the other two in bronze. I still have one of the bronzes, but sold the rest.
The sand casting was done in the courtyard of the sculpture studio, and as the originals burned out there was only one solid metal cast for each piece. I cast two in aluminum (one of which I painted black) and the other two in bronze. I still have one of the bronzes, but sold the rest.
I did not particularly like welding, though it had become a widely used technique for sculpture. The heat and brightness of the oxyacetylene flame were too intense for me.
I made several attempts in class, but my technique was terrible and so were my works. I kept one small piece, a sort of metal sketch. I thought of it as a design for a public space, perhaps for a park. Though the metal was smooth and shiny at the start, it has by now grown a nice patina of rust.
I made several attempts in class, but my technique was terrible and so were my works. I kept one small piece, a sort of metal sketch. I thought of it as a design for a public space, perhaps for a park. Though the metal was smooth and shiny at the start, it has by now grown a nice patina of rust.
Welded metal sculpture with plaster under the 12” x 12” base. 1965 (2 views) 7 ½“ high.
I thought of this sketch as a design for a public space, perhaps for a park. I did not imagine that some twenty years later I would be designing and building colorful mosaic playground sculptures for parks, though they were unrelated to the forms in this little piece. And almost forty years later, I returned to the linear aspects of this sketch in what I called my Lines and Lumps sketches.