I squealed with delight when I saw these last week. First in their bare metal, the folds and obvious faces and figures. Very appropriate for this month where we strengthen our souls and lower our desires for worldly gains and test our strength of spirit.
“The older I get I realize people are not always as they seem. I realize the true meaning of humanity. However hard I try I am always sucked in with the society and from time to time the routine of life drains me. In these new pieces there is a hidden sculpture within each one. Each is different and will be presented in its own individual colour. They somehow hold a secret hidden within. The viewer needs to see it, decide what it used to be before. Like souls, somehow you know they belong to something, to shapes and it feels like these pieces are souls of sculptures. They used to be the form of a sculpture, but the soul of the sculpture is what I am trying to represent and for the viewer to decide how it should look. I agree, you might see a lump of crushed steel, heavy and maybe not up to health and safety standards. However. Like a sentence you are trying to read between the lines of, or looking deeper into the shape rather than the outline. These pieces are under the theme of the expression ‘Don’t judge the book by its cover’. Sam Shendi”
I doubted how they would be any better in colour. For me they are a fantastic mixture of abstract, figurative, colour, minimalism but they are also symbolic of the state we are in. There are so many more words I could write about these but will save for when we have some professional pictures. See for yourself for now;
The sun has been out and it has been so hot. Today I had to ‘sit’ (I say that as I did a lot of sitting, though I did manage to sweep the floor and write a few emails) in our kitchen business which has three very large panel windows acting like a conservatory, add in that a toddler and a fasting day. I could feel the heat. However I am now cool again and able to reflect on the day a little. I know I shouldn’t complain, Morocco and Egypt are even hotter. Some how we are just not ready for it here! I was in the shop as my husband had gone down to London to deliver a piece for a show and collect two that needed repairing for another exhibition. The piece he had to deliver had been selected for the HOT ONE HUNDRED. It is a show for 100 contemporary emerging artists. “Playfully mimicking the creation of power lists in the worlds of art, entertainment and business HOT-ONE-HUNDRED satirizes this ‘heat’ phenomenon while simultaneously becoming an agent for its proliferation.”
Private view: Wednesday 17th July 6 -10 p.m @ Schwartz Gallery, 92 White Post Lane, Ground floor, Building 2, London, E9 5EN
Have I called a post entry that before? Perhaps, but it’s not been as busy as this. I can’t write quick enough for the amount of work my husband is doing at the moment. This weekend we need to collect the pieces from the Red brick Mill in Batley and bring back pieces from London to get ready for their next visit… busy busy busy.
‘standing tall – evolution ‘adult’ piece‘Ready and waiting for the photo shoot’
…my husband is working in our kitchen shop by day and in the studio by night. In other words, he is working flat-out to get things ready for the FIRST@108 award. This is the ‘ elderly’ stage in the ‘Evolution’ piece. We are as a consequence both feeling a bit like this stage at the moment.
‘Sketch of cruelty piece’
This is a sketch for one of the ideas in development for the solo exhibition.
‘Cruelty’ ready for photo shoot
and now in reality, ready for photo shoot.
In a more sobering reality things are not good in Egypt. So we are watching Egyptian news to find out more…
This morning the wet damp clouds hung heavy over the hills here in Yorkshire, creating an almost hazy fog interrupted with lush green trees popping through the grey like thought bubbles. Made me think of my husband’s mind! The sun broke out this afternoon and turned into a lovely summer solstice, and the sundown will be around 9.30ish here. It’s amazing how the longer days really shift the rhythm internally and externally.
I am very much ‘The Sculptor’s wife’ at the moment, as the sculptures for the solo exhibition and the large-scale sculpture which will go outside the Royal British Society of Sculptors are all in various stages of progress, and taking up my Husband’s time. The lighter evenings giving an extra momentous for working in the studio.
‘The base complete with holes’
The ‘Evolution’ piece has now been welded and has been moved to the studio. Where they congregated like a family;
‘Evolution’ waiting in the studio
The surface is polished and smoothed before the painting, at least he is wearing gloves this time!
preparing the surface for spraying
The first to be sprayed was the fist stage in the series of ‘transmission’ the infant. Tonight, my husband has got back from painting the last in the series death’. When he came in he immediately starting telling me that the results had been announced for The Cork Street Gallery summer exhibition, shaking his head and looking all disappointed.I tried to quickly remember what this was all about and he told me the pieces and then said “when I scrolled down to ‘S’ these were the three pieces they had chosen! (I think we entered 6) So it was exciting to find out we have been shortlisted, but now some more form filling and delivery of works and the process starts again.
We often want to see the end product of something, get to our destination, get the result, but most often it is the journey, the process, the ‘evolution’ and evolving of ourselves through the process that is the most important thing.
In my last blog entry a sneaky image got in which I hadn’t intended to post for several reasons. However, fate intervened! it got in and then in response to this image which I will now have to put in for it all to make sense.
‘Body parts’
I got asked this series of questions for a project for a nice little blog called; The Show and Tell project. Probably because this looks like a collection of parts. Anyway here are the Q & A’s
1.) Do you have any thoughts/ feelings about seeing your husband’s work go from a collection of parts to a cohesive whole? What is the experience like ?
I think I am in the privileged position of being, living and seeing, (what I believe) will someday be (and is to me already, before universal recognition) a great artist at work. Gosh did that sentence make sense, probably not!
This is a good question as it makes me reflect a little bit more. My husband makes the process look easy as though it is a magic of sorts. It is so natural and easy for him I sometimes think he doesn’t realise that the way he sees and thinks isn’t like everyone else and that his natural talent is a real natural gift. The process is having the idea, drawing the idea in the most part and then sometimes making the idea come to life in three dimensions. Off the page. Now we have recently taken on the studio the process is changing a little. He now has a physical space to play rather than his mind and the page. I think in the long-term this will have an important impact on his work. The introduction of mannequins is a good example. To begin with he was sketching ideas on the paper. He then ordered a large quantity of the mannequins and started playing around with them which was also a process and then the actual physicality of where they could split and the positions of hands and legs seems to be effecting the design. So it is starting to be a little more organic. I like this as sometimes he is very prescriptive about what the end result will be. He has an idea in his head and it has to be like that. It isn’t aleatoric at all. So up until now I haven’t felt like there was a collection of parts as such. We will perhaps see more collection of parts.
2.) Do you make artistic contributions to his work? how so?
He sometimes asks me for my opinion. I give it and it is either taken onboard completely or totally dismissed completely. He is very black and white like that. I don’t often voluntarily give contributions, I don’t think. He may also have a number of sketches and ask me which ones he thinks he should develop. He recently asked me about colour choices but sometimes I think he asks me in an interesting exercise to do the complete opposite or the unexpected of what someone may ordinarily imagine.
3.) In your experience, do you feel like many of his ideas remain incomplete? And if so, how to you respond?
My instinct is to say that none of his ideas remain incomplete. He is very ‘start to finish’. I also think that because he works in such a size and material now, that if he starts making, it is with the intention of finishing it. I think if he was spending money on making things that weren’t getting finished I would probably get frustrated but I don’t see that happening.
4.) Why do you think that artists find it difficult to maintain inspiration ?
Because they are trying to find inspiration or ideas. It may sound arrogant but I don’t think truly great artists do find it difficult to maintain inspiration. In my husband’s case it is not about maintaining inspiration it is about maintaining the belief that one day he will get recognition for his work. He has said to me before, if he had an endless fund he could fill sculpture parks over and over, and it is no exaggeration we have sketchbooks full of ideas that could be created if we had the money!
I thought I would just update about the progress for the FIRST@108 Solo exhibition and public sculpture. Earlier in the year, in March it was announced that my husband had won this award and since then he has been busy getting on with the making. The exhibition isn’t until October but deadlines are tight. Images of the finished pieces need to be done by August. So here is a little cheeky glimpse at the winning piece, the maquette now enlarged in it’s full size. This is one of the pieces that could be in the solo show. I say ‘could’ as we have selected 5 ideas from sketch book to make but there could be some changes at the last minute.
Just noticed that SHE is the first three letters of SHENDI, which has nothing to do with the name of the exhibition. Shendi is the name of a town in northern Sudan, situated on the east bank of the Nile River 150 km northeast of Khartoum. I don’t know if the family name traces back to the town but it does have a certain ring to it. When I first met my husband my brother was only 14 and took it on as a nickname, not quite sure exactly why. I debated for a while about taking the name on, in Egypt woman don’t take the husband’s name, they keep their father’s name. All to do with lineage rather than belonging to a man, fascinating.
The exhibition is simply ‘SHE’ as in, female, woman, girl. It is a joint exhibition with the delicate painter Anu Samarüütel which nicely compliments the solid sculptures of ‘Shendi. My husband went to set up today on this sunny day after a busy day. I will upload some of the set up pictures on my new facebook page ‘The Sculptors Wife’. The colour used by both artists is uplifting and cheerful. Anu has strong links with fashion and design as does my husband’s work. I hope I can get over and see it, the exhibition will run for a month at Red Brick Mill, Batley.
‘The Keyhole man’ guarding the door for the SHE exhibition!
I was throughly excited and pleased to find out last week that I have been nominated for an award The Liebster Award! My first blogging award 🙂
The nomination came from charcoalblue which is one of my most recent blog finds. Which is a beautiful blog I feel such an affinity with. The need for creativity within a world of mothering, the mix of art and thinking and literally and metaphorically drawing from art and life.Simone who writes the blog, Charcoalblue described my blog as “opening my eyes to a world that I am becoming increasingly interested in – sculpture” So it is a huge compliment receiving this nomination. However, I have failed miserably in getting this post published as it has taken me a while to sift through ideas to answer the questions, really a tough challenge for me. I also have been away for the bank holiday weekend so that is another excuse.
I wondered what the nomination meant,Liebster’ in German means – dearest, sweetest, kindest, beloved…. I’m overwhelmed , grateful beyond words and tremendously humbled. It is also a really good way to find other new blogs and I discovered to my surprise that many of the ones I was following had huge followings. Anyway better get on with it;
The First Step for the Liebster Award is to tell 11 things about yourself:
1. I am currently into knitting, I am knitting every possible minute at the moment as I have a deadline. A yarn bombing event at my eldest child’s school!
2. I love food. Eating it and baking, when I look back at old journals all I seem to have written about is what I have eaten that day.
3. I won a wrapping competition in a former life and had to go on a day time TV show and wrap a garden gnome, needless to say I made a complete ‘bodge’ of it. Fortunately this was before utube existed 🙂
4. I like exploring.
5. I love reading.
6. I am indecisive, that can be a good and a bad thing.
7. I have big eyes.
8. I am a listener.
9. I am naive, my husband says I don’t live in the real world.
10. I am a solitary person, I like to be alone. I heard an interview with a writer who said the same. I hope that means one day I will actually write and that the time to myself is a gathering of thoughts and ideas to finally one day put pen to paper.
11. I am wife and mother two really important jobs.
The Second Step for the Liebster Award is to answer the 11 questions asked by the nominating blogger:
1. What is a fond childhood memory?
I was in the park today (now last week) with my son and I sat on the swing and we were swinging side by side. I suddenly had a memory which flooded my mind, of swinging in my childhood garden.Bliss.
2. Your favourite movie?
That is such a hard question, Big Fish, Public Enemies, The Three colours trilogy,
3. If you could do/be anything – what would it be?
A palm tree
4. Most common item you buy that is under $10.00
Tissues
5. Something that annoys you
When I have got a plan in my head and it doesn’t work out the way I wanted it to!
6. Something that gives you pleasure
mmmmmm Chocolate.
7. Find your self daydreaming about ….
What I want to be, it changes all the time.
8. Where do you get your ideas for your posts?
My husband’s sculptures and then usual something happens in my day that connects an idea with his work.
9. Which do you enjoy most, pondering the possibilities or narrowing down the options?
I naturally narrow down the options, I am not sure I enjoy doing it, perhaps I should start practising pondering the possibilities.
10. Favourite novel
eek.that’s a tough as the film question; The Help, Remains of the Day, The Alchemist, Tiger Hills, Life of Pi……
11. Advice for a mum who will one day have 3 teenage sons – at the same time?
Be strong, Be calm, Be patient, Be yourself. It will only be for a period of time and it will pass. Enjoy having them with you and pat yourself on the back for getting them so far. In reading that back it could apply to now. Perhaps, as teenagers give them their space but be there when they need you. I don’t know one day I will have 2 teenage sons I may know more then! Good Luck.
The Third Step for the Liebster Award is to nominate 11 bloggers with relatively few (less than 200) followers:
Roxy’s blog would be amazing if there was audio button that you could click and hear her voice read them to you, perhaps word press could do that? Utube or facebook her reikiroxy site to hear her or relax and read her blog yourself.
Perhaps I am cheating putting this in, if you can work out the connection. However, I really want to support this but thousands of miles a way felt this was a way I could. Motivational and fascinating to be able to see the progress of this project.
The images on here are awesome. This is a blog I need to look at more and so I am nominating it so others may do the same.
The Fourth Step for the Liebster Award is to ask your nominees 11 questions:
1. What prompted you to start a blog?
2. What inspires you?
3. If you had to choose an animal totem for yourself what would you choose?
4. If you had one country to choose to go to which one would it be?
5. What is your favourite sound?
6.What are you most passionate about?
7. What is your weakness?
8. Do you believe in fate?
9. What is your favourite poem?
10. What is your best recipe – (I am scouting for ideas!)
11. If you had one wish, what would you wish for?
Goodness, that took me ages…… but a very interesting and enjoyable process. THANK YOU again. oh yes and the double success bit was on the day I got nominated for this award that prompted all these questions, we also found out The Store Street Gallery had sold this sculpture; would have been ironic if it had been one of the eggs covered in questions!
A little capsule of culture entered my life yesterday which already seems like a dream, as it felt like a dream itself. Boxes like coffins or bathtubs, ships or tower blocks used in numerous imaginative ways. Effective lighting and manipulated shadows made for sculptural inspiration. A sound world of single cello, violin and piano made you lose all thoughts within a captivating display of movement from the monk marshal arts dancers. The opening of this show began with two figures like a Father and Son, Puppeteer and puppet or Creator and Man; sat on a box playing a game that becomes the performance, Sutra Dance Consortium. Have a little glimpse of it;
My mind, hypnotised couldn’t go past the minimalistic figure, the human form, the individual verses society. Conforming, confronting, obeying, order and uniformity. Isolated. As though it was all inspired by my husband’s piece;
‘Isolated’‘Isolated 2013’
After the show my friends opened up another dimension of ideas, flowers, the world, creation, the creator, the pilgrimage. Endless possibilities. I wanted to hear the thoughts of all the audience, to tap into the fireworks of isolated ideas that bounced off this futuristic space and around our minds. I felt as though I had been thrown into a different world for a brief moment, the setting at The Lowry in Salford so different from my usual environment. The architecture, the light, the metal, the water reflecting a futuristic modern world polors apart from my green hills and muddy puddles, and daily life without wellies. We become isolated in our own world and forget there are others around us. It was a moment of inspiration a time to refresh, recharge and re-energize. Taken into another world of ideas and imagination.
THE SCULPTOR'S WIFE 