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| Bronze by Bill Knight, A Wintry View of Marquand, Missouri from The Gallery |
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| Adam in Cast Resin by Angela Hunter Knight |
Having spoken at length with Bill about his work with indigenous stones—"relics prospected from the Missouri landscape"—earlier this year, it was my turn to have a tête-à-tête with
Angela. Readers of The Madison County Crier may remember Angela's stirring and soaring words to last year's graduating class at Crossroads College Prep in Issue 3.5 (p. 11): With Humility All Things Are Possible. In the cozy inner salon redolent of hot apple cider, we stole a few moments to sit side-by-side on the chintz sofa to talk about what we both love best: ART.
FM: When did you begin sculpting?
Angela Hunter Knight: I began sculpting
in earnest when I began teaching; if you want to teach sculpture
you should do it. I'd studied sculpture at
Fontbonne under Rudy Torrini—a whole community of artists were
taught by him. The other impetus was Bill; he was having such a good time sculpting, I took a stab
at it. The challenge attracted me, it seemed a new way to draw but in
three dimensions. At a professional development course in Marble, Colorado,
I attempted my first large-scale carving. In eight days I finished
roughing out a 300-pound sculpture.
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| A Venus by Angela Hunter Knight |
FM: How is that you came to focus on
Venus?
Angela Hunter Knight: In many ways I am a Classicist,
and I enjoy the many characters of Venus. I attribute to her a joyous, even whimsical persona. I show
her in various states of womanhood. I hope to redefine her, I've
enjoyed messing with her—exposing the parts of her that are
teasing, playful, that exhibit reckless abandon. Breaking her out of
a box that history has put her in. That's not fair, she needs to be
set free!
FM: Can you please talk a bit about your process, how you approach a new work; and if it has, how it has changed over time?
Angela Hunter Knight: In the past I started with drawing,
then created a maquette, and then proceeded to the stone. Now I'm starting
with the stone, then I do a drawing, and finally the maquette.
It's a different process of discovery—finding the way, instead of
knowing the way. A means of trusting your instincts more. I've become
more confident about carving, handling the materials, the tools.
There's so much to learn about what each tool does. Errors are okay.
I look for the errors, you're forced to make a decision. For instance
after working on one of my Venus pieces, I discovered a huge crack
all the way in.
FM: What did you do, Angela?
Angela Hunter Knight: I decided to take a hammer to it
and break it along the crack. Part of the work is finished, polished,
and part is unfinished. When I looked at the result I thought that's
perfect! In sculpture there's a constant conversation with the
materials.
FM: I got a chance to take in the Federico Barocci exhibit
last week at the St. Louis Art Museum and loved how each painting was hung in a constellation of its studies, shining a curatorial light on process and the revelation of Barocci's choices: hand up, hand down, foot turned in or out. I suppose those choices are even more stark and
immediate in sculpture...?
Angela Hunter Knight: Yes! At the Barocci exhibit I
barely glanced at the paintings, but the drawings blew me away. During
the Renaissance, paper was at a premium. He used every square inch of
it, and his sense of composition is extraordinary.
In Colorado I thought I can't do this,
it's too hard, I'll never be able to do this. Day One, I was crying,
facing something that I knew was the most difficult thing, wondering maybe I
wasn't cut out for it. But then I started chopping, drawing,
selecting a strategy, grinding, and I found out, along the way you get brave. By
Day Two I saw I was getting somewhere. I'm very organized. I never
stop one day unless I know where I'm going to start the next day.
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| Strange Fruit |
I work mostly on large pieces in
Colorado Yule marble. It's very fine-grained, crystalline, with great
luminosity. It's honest in its workability, you can get along with
it, you know what to expect. Other pieces are carved from alabaster.
Strange Fruit for instance, which is not a reference to the Billy
Holiday song; it's based on an avocado, much more literal. If you
look at it from the side it looks like an avocado, if you look at it
from the front/back, like a female. It's very colorful and I love it
for that reason. White outside, tawny inside.
For small-scale works there are tools
that we use, industrial tools. Large pieces are so physical, you're
using your whole body when you work, and I like using my whole body. With
small pieces, you're using your hands. I don't micro as well as I
macro. I connect smaller pieces to writing. Sometimes, however, a
small piece manages to have a great presence; that's where I'm going
next.
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| Photo by Russ Middleton |
FM: What advice do you have for novice
sculptors?
Angela Hunter Knight: Don't kid yourself: there will be
tears. You will lose your fingerprints; you have to be strong both
physically and mentally, but don't give up. It is hard, there's
nothing easy about it. I have an inner need, I have to do sculpture
to sustain me, I'm always making art. When I retire from teaching, in
my grand finale, my grand design is to always find myself there,
creating. But it has to work organically with everything else I do—my
horses, the dogs, running.
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| Bill and Angela Knight, Photo by Russ Middleton |
FM: What are you working on right now?
Angela Hunter Knight: A model for a metal sculpture;
it's an abstraction of herons. A commissioned piece for the garden at the school where I teach.
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| Art lover and maker Norah Von Zur Muehlen, age 8, holding one of Bill's pieces. Behind her is Venus Whimsy, her sister Ellen's favorite piece in the show. When I asked Ellen, age 15, why that was, she replied: "It appeals to the same part of me that enjoys daydreams, or reading fantasy fiction novels." |
I asked Norah to please ask Angela one final question, and she kindly agreed.
Norah: Angela, where do you get the ideas to
make your stuff?
Angela Hunter Knight: I'm a thematic person. A theme is
like an umbrella, it covers a lot of things, the figure and the
abstraction of the figure. My Venus series, for instance, which grows
progressively more abstract. My first Venus was Rational Venus, she
was based on ideal beauty, the next was Venus of Mirth, then Venus
Whimsy, and so on...After spending all this time with Venus, now I
need a new umbrella!
Carved in Stone will be on display throughout December and January, 2013. The address of The Gallery is 101 East Pinckney Street in Marquand, Missouri 63655 (just off Whitener Street behind The Reagan Hotel.) The Gallery's hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 12-5 pm. Or call Dorothy Kelley at 573-783-5609 for other showing times by appointment.
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| Bill Knight and Marquand vintner Jay Hansmann holding a piece by Bill. Jay is owner of Durso Hills Winery where we all repaired after the opening for a fabulous post-gallery repast. We couldn't help ourselves, we ordered a second bottle of the oaky Norton 2005 with dinner! |
