Since it's Sunday, The Lord's day, I figured what an apt time to post this pic.This is my first sculpture, which won first prize back in 4th grade at St. Bridgets in Detroit. It's a bust of Jesus which I did for the school art contest. My mom did help me a bit with critting me I seem to remember, and I didn't want her to work on it as I wanted to do it myself...guess I'm still like that in a way now. And face it, every parent helps their kid on school projects to some degree.
There was a controversy as I recall because they said I didn't do it, it was too good so my parents must have done it for me. They were going to disqualify me. I remember being very mad at that, it seemd like if you tried hard then you were immediately under suspicion because obviously a kid has to make stuff that sucks. Well, what can I say, that was pretty typical of the catholic school education I got. Some very conditional assholes. That as I recall was also the last year we had nuns as teachers, after that they were all gone and lay teachers came in. Jesus and I haven't been friends since....
It's unfired and crumbled a bit over the decades and has been with my Grandma since I did it, first in her home and then in her apt. Unfortunately her health has declined and she's entering an managed care facility. My grandma was my biggest booster as a kid in being an artist, and my parents were too. Grandma always brought me home tons of paper and pencils from Chrysler, where she was a secretary. You know offices toss out all kinds of extra paper, pencils, markers etc., but she always kept me supplied with a fresh stack of drawing paper and plenty to draw with. It's sad to hear of her decline in recent months, but unfortunately we all face the hand of time and the eventual decline in some reguards due to age. My parents recently were cleaning out her apt and took the sculp home and my dad snapped these pics for me. I think it's so funny to see something from that far back, from when I was around 9-10 years old or so and think about what I'm doing in sculpture class now.
Maybe I should do another bust of the man from Nazareth just for fun...
3 comments:
Really good for a kid sculpt.
Hey there. This post reminds of another one that you made about Jesus. I recall that back in 2005 you made a post complaining about Easter. You said it was a lame holiday and that Jesus isn't as cool as the figures in other belief systems. Since Easter is coming up, I was wondering: Are you going to make a similar post this year?
I've been doing some sculpture lately too. I just got some mold making stuff and some plastic casting resin. Last time I tried making some molds, it didn't work. I found out it was because the clay I was using had sulphur in it, and it reacted badly to the rubber mold.
So I got the right kind of clay, and we'll see if it works.
Your story reminds me of a similar creativity crushing experience from catholic school.
My brother won a creative writing contest where everyone in class voted on the winner.
The nun told him he didn't deserve to win, and that some other kid had a better story. She said the only reason he won was because it made people laugh.
I wouldn't blame Jesus for that though. It doesn't seem fair to hold Him accountable to the actions of some mean old nuns 2000 years later.
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