"Leaning Torso"
16 h x 18 w x 12 d inches
ceramic sculpture, #5 of limited edition of 20 (after original)
copyright 1996 Kelly Borsheim
Price: $ 800 USD (includes shipping within US)
This is an edition made from one of my earliest sculptures. I was studying 3-d art at the Elisabet Ney Sculpture Conservatory in Austin, Texas. Jon Formo was one of my favorite teachers. He not only taught technique, but wanted us to use chance or random things, or even experimenting with techniques to enhance our creativity.
The class was probably held in 1995. The original terra-cotta (baked earth) torso sculpture sold at my very first Sculptfest (then called Sculp*fest) at the Charles Umlauf Sculpture Museum & Garden with the Texas Society of Sculptors (TSOS) in Austin.
I later made a plaster mold of the piece that was constructed using the slab method of clay building. I worked from a live model who was leaning on one arm while sitting on a bench. I was not sure it would work to build a hollow body. And I was not sure how to end the composition. I walked across the room to have a look from a distance and when I asked my teacher if I should add the arm, he simply said, "Where is the line that the eye follows?" Diagonally up, I thought. And I walked quickly back to my sculpture and lopped off the part of the shoulder arm that I had been confused about, putting a hole there.
Later at the Ney Faculty-Student show, an experienced sculptor told me that the composition looked odd to her because of the lack of the arm. But I just smiled because if anything of this piece had been intentional, it was the diagonal and the triangle negative space. I was not going to second guess it again. This experience helped me each time I have received a critique of my work: sometimes I miss something. Others are intentional decisions due to any number of visual reasons that have become my voice.
I hope that you enjoy. It is this piece whose right side outline became the curvy part in my logo. I wanted to show that my brain sees the world in triangles, even when creating curves. The graphic designer could not seem to get it, so I traced the outline of the sculpture to show him how everything is connected in my brain and he used that line to my surprise and joy.
P.S. Please note the small chip on the bottom front of the left leg of this female torso ceramic sculpture. Sold as is.