One of my unrealized drawings |
Inspired by my visit to the Library Company this spring, I have
spent the summer as a Visual Culture Program Intern happily creating new works
based on the Schoenhut circus toy catalog from 1917 and the other toy-related
materials in the library’s collection representative of the period 1850-1950.
A preliminary sketch becoming a sculpture |
For all the things that have gone smoothly, there have been
a few others that have not. But trial and error, at least in my experience, are
a normal occurrence in the art world. From accumulations of unrealized drawings
and ideas, to making the same piece over and over because of an issue with a
measurement, to gluing something on the wrong way; it has all happened.
In organizing my schedule, I gave myself about two weeks to
work on each of ten toys that I planned to create during my internship. Some
sculptures, like the Roly Polys and Rolley Sheep, went smoothly and--as I now
know--gave me a false sense of security. When I began work on the more
intricate toys, like my cam tiger tamer and voting bear, the pieces took much
longer than I expected. Nonetheless, as I reached the final few days of my internship,
I wrapped everything up nicely. The final details worked out well, except when
I got distracted or tired or rushed and did something not very smart. This
happened with my Walking Bear sculpture, the piece representing my final decade
of research - the 1940s.
The infamous gear set |
I purchased a gear set for the internal mechanics, thinking
that I would just build around it. But that proved problematic until I finally
figured out a good way to construct an outer design with which I was happy and that
would fit around the inner workings. When I finally solved this problem, I glued on the outer layer to form the figure
of the bear. A few days later I decided to test the bear. Great job Jesse! He walks in the wrong
direction. I had assembled the gears inside the body backwards. I couldn’t stop
laughing. You just have to roll with the punches sometimes as an artist and I have
decided he is “backwards” walking bear.
I am incredibly lucky to have had this internship and have
learned so much about my craft and myself while working at the Library Company.
This summer has been a really wonderful experience and I just want to end this
post by saying thank you to everyone at the library who I came into contact
with. I have always felt accepted here and I had a wonderful time interning
under the Visual Culture Program.
Jesse
Lentz
Moore
College of Art ‘13
VCP
Artist-in-Residence Intern
You are a joy!
ReplyDeleteGreat work ethic, yet flexible.
Never daunted by your setbacks.
So happy for you that your time &
experience at The Library has been
a good one!
Wishing you much success in your future!