Sculpture
Letter From The Campus, Looks Like Dick Will Stay
I have just received the following letter from Vermont College Union Institute. You may have remembered that we were all a bit worried what would happen to College Hall if it were sold, and then what would happen to the Dick Hathaway sculpture. It looks like the MFA is going to purchase the entire property. I assume that this secures the TW Woods Gallery and Dick on the campus. I am thrilled. He should be here.
LETTER RECEIVED FROM VERMONT COLLEGE UNION INSTITUTE
February 26, 2007
Dear faculty, staff, learners, and alumni,
I’m pleased to announce that this past Friday, February 23, 2007 I signed of a Letter of Intent to transfer the historic Vermont College campus and three MFA programs to the newly formed Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA). After a period of due diligence, we project that the sale will be completed by July 1, 2007. UI&U will continue to operate its undergraduate adult degree program, as well as the Master of Education and Master of Arts programs, without interruption, in leased facilities on the campus.
Included in the proposed sale to VCFA are the campus’s 11 buildings and 33.5 acres, as well as the Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts program, the Master of Arts in Writing program, and the Master of Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. The Vermont College of Fine Arts, under the leadership of MFA alumnus Tom Greene, a longtime administrator with Vermont College, and William Kaplan, an expert in real estate acquisition and conservation, is committed to a seamless transition for the three MFA programs. According to Tom, the vision of the new non-profit entity is that the “historic campus and renowned academic programs will form the foundation for a new college, one that not only plays a critical role in arts and letters in this country, but also is firmly and forever anchored in central Vermont.”
For the past months, we have made concerted efforts to appropriately staff the Montpelier-based programs in anticipation of this sale. We are pleased that academic and academic support staff associated with the programs retained by UI&U will not lose their positions because of this transfer. Academic support staff and faculty related to the MFA programs will most likely become employees of VCFA. Discussions are still in the very early stages regarding facilities, housekeeping, and security staff, but VCFA officials are quoted as saying that they are committed to operate the campus and the MFA programs without disruption.
In the proposed framework, UI&U will lease office, classroom, dormitory, and meeting space from VCFA and operate its educational offerings as one of UI&U’s five national academic centers. All current programs will continue to operate out of the Stone Science building, including the undergraduate adult degree program; the MA and new MA Online; and the MEd. The Gary Library will also continue to operate under UI&U auspices, serving all UI&U and VCFA students in a shared arrangement. UI&U’s Brattleboro Center will also continue to operate without interruption. UI&U has also recently leased offices in Brattleboro to house its new Psy.D. program which will operate pending approval of the Vermont Department of Education.
Alumni of the three MFA programs, as well as alumni of the historic programs housed on the campus (Montpelier Seminary, Vermont Junior College, etc.) will transfer under the auspices of the VCFA. All alumni who earned UI&U degrees since the 2001 acquisition, including all those who earned degrees from the programs staying with UI&U and alumni of the Adult Degree program, MEd program, and MA program will remain with UI&U.
This Letter of Intent moves us closer to our goals, stated clearly last spring, to divest all real property at its Cincinnati headquarters and Montpelier campus in order to focus resources on our core mission based on our founders’ vision to be “learner-centered” rather than “building-centered.” The decision to sell the historic Montpelier campus as well as other property is part of an institution-wide re-visioning that redirects the university’s assets away from owned real estate to focus on creating innovative programs for adults, investing in our people, enhancing learner services, and providing state-of-the-art technology.
We are proud to have been stewards of the Vermont College campus and its academic programs for the past five years, and gratified that our substantial investments in the buildings, the campus, the programs, and the people have given birth to the new and promising entity of the Vermont College of Fine Arts. We are particularly pleased that VCFA will not only continue to operate but also enhance the nationally renowned MFA programs in Writing, Visual Arts, and Writing for Children. We are also very much looking forward to continuing to operate our undergraduate and master’s programs on the campus without interruption.
UI&U remains wholly committed to learners, staff, faculty, and alumni in Vermont, providing strong and viable educational opportunities. It is our intention and the intention of VCFA that this transfer is contingent upon being a seamless transition similar to when UI&U purchased the campus and programs from Norwich University in 2001. There is no foreseen alteration of the academic experience: the learning model will continue, and even improve; faculty will be retained; and residencies will continue without interruption. While there are still details to work out, officials from both organizations are working diligently with federal, state, and local agencies.
I express my deepest appreciation to all of you for your patience throughout this past months. I know that the uncertainty about the campus and program caused rumors and unrest, but I hope you understand that these are serious negotiations and the level of detail is such that much of the information must remain protected in order to safeguard the eventual outcome. I thank you for allowing us the time to make this transition a reality. We owe it to our learners, alumni, and ourselves to continue to work every day to serve our learners and continue the legacies created by both Union and Vermont College.
I also thank officials in the city of Montpelier and the state of Vermont for their warm hospitality and support throughout the past five years. We all look forward to what promises to be a fruitful and lasting partnership on a beautiful and unique campus.
I’m sure that you will have questions in the coming weeks and months. We will do our best to answer them and to provide as much information as possible to ensure that we are serving our learners, our alumni and friends, our staff, and our faculty. We will continue to stay in touch as we know more.
Warm regards,
Roger H. Sublett, Ph.D.
President
Murmuring Of An Artist
For two years I have been writing this book “Bringing to Life the Spirit of the Deceased- A Sculptor’s Journey” I have taken a close look a the four commissions documented within the book. Now I have this posthumous commission of Mr. Hockett. It feels funny not to be documenting it. After two years of paying such close attention I feel like somehow Mr. Hocket is being excluded, not a part of the process. I am back to doing what I do in the process without much consciousness of it.
IT does not help that the commission is on a tight deadline. I have no time to ponder. I think Patsy, Lucas, Dick, and Jeanine came to me in those times between. The time spent doing something else, the place that thoughts linger. With such a quick deadline I lose the ability to linger. Does that affect the process?
Few photographs. I cringe at this process without numerous photographs. At one point I even said to myself, “perhaps I will not take any more commissions without many photographs.” My supply in this commission is limited. It not only ties my hands as a sculptor but also leaves me craving more emotionally from the subject. The photographs are what lead me to the personality and the emotion of the individual, with a limited supply the emotion is limited, which may in turn affect the sculpture.
Now that the deadline is looming, and no more photographs are available I pray. Mr Hockett, God, show me his peace. Ii think about the sculpture of Jeanine and remember that some of the photographs of Jeanine actually made me sick. When copying the eyes of one photograph I copied the pain, when another photograph was available I transferred that peace in the photograph to the sculpture. I wonder what has happened in the day the time of the photographs of Hockett? My client’s friend did not see the peace.
This is not a mystical process. My feeling of the emotions in the photograph even those emotions that may leak through is scientific and documented. I have an entire chapter on it in my book. Picking up these emotions is apparently one of my abilities. Sculpting and trying to make something beyond what is in the photograph is mystical.
Approval Process
There are many ways to approve a sculpture. Some people come to the studio and others work with me through the internet and the phone. The process does include the clients suggestions. After viewing the previous photographs I have some thoughts from the client and I go back and work some more on the sculpture. The one difficulty about creating a sculpture with a quick deadline is that I have no time to be away from the sculpture. Sometimes distance is good. A few days away from a sculpture and many things can be noticed. Here is the most recent version and once again a tracing of the original photograph imposed over the sculpture.
Awaiting Approvals… or Direction
I often say that all I do is copy photographs. Of course when your resources are limited there may be a bit more intuition involved. I have hovered over the sculpture for days. My husband cracks the center of my back regularly and in off hours I try to stand up right avoiding the affects of poor posture caused by hours of sculpting. This is approval time. The photographs are sent to the client in hopes of approval or direction. This is how it looks at 10:44 pm on Sunday evening.
Working Along
There is much to do. I’ll spend the weekend working on the Hocket sculpture. I hope to send photographs to my client by Tuesday. We are on tight deadline. This is how it looks Saturday morning. I’ll post more through the weekend.
Mr. Hockett Moves Upstairs to The Graphics Table
The process of sculpting, for me, does not always stay in the downstairs studio. I have taken the picture of Mr. Hockett upstairs into my husband’s office to work on his graphics tablet. It is a wonderful tablet that allows you to draw right on the tablet. I trace the outline of one of the photographs of Mr. Hockett. Then I transfer that in Photoshop dropping it over the photograph of the sculpture taken from the same direction as the Hockett photograph. This helps me to see some of the corrections.
I find I need to move the nose and eyes down. Instead of resculpting them I opt for carving those areas out and trying to move them down. It is a bit of work, but, much easier than resculpting the entire area. The ears need to be pulled up as well, the shoulders/back raised. Then I take another photograph to see how things are lining up, much better. Getting there. Just a little trick to help me see things that I might not otherwise see. I wish I had a photograph from the side, but am told one might be coming today.
I’ll post the revised sculpture this evening or in the morning. Gentleman that he is he would like to have his hat on before I take the picture.
The Process-Hockett Sculpture – Intuition?
Bound by deadlines of a memorial service I precede with the sculpture. I cannot control the foundry process, they need the time they need to prepare it, and so I work night and day trying to figure out who this Mr. Hockett is. How much of this process is intuition. I often wonder. Photographs, especially when you only have three, only show so much.
The Process-Hockett Sculpture
Creating a sculpture with little reference is challenging at best. Often I can capture the likeness in one direction, however when a sculpture is viewed from the side it might not look like the person at all. I have only three photographs of Mr. Hockett- a challenge. The clay has been added to the sculpture and the hat. Florencia works on putting details on the hat, carving in the vents, smoothing the clay and putting the designated texture.
Getting Back to Work
The stack of books and satchel that I bought are now covered with wax. Florencia will be cleaning the stack of books and covering them with clay, so that I can add the details. Meanwhile the sculpture of Dick sits patiently waiting for me to return. Two commissions have a tight deadline and I’ll get back to Dick as soon as they are complete.
Jeanine is Finally Home!
I was so thrilled to hear that Jeanine arrived safely, and that the parents found the sculpture very peaceful. I am honored to be able to give such a gift and help parents in the grieving of their loved one.
I really learned so much about myself through this commission. I talk about it in the book that I am writing “Bringing to Life the Spirit of the Deceased- A Sculptor’s Journey”. Thank you Jeanine.
