6
My Life as a Sculptor
An Interview with Adam Aaronson
In the fouth of a series of interviews, we talk to
Adam Aaronson about his ife as a sculptor.
Teresa and her sister, Gill, working
on their first wooden sculptures
"I'm a full-time glassmaker and artist, but only some of my work is sculpture. Running a glass studio requires great adaptability, as hot glass involves very high overheads and continuous energy costs."
Is sculpting your main profession?
Apart from developing my work, I make all sorts of things out of hot glass to commission, and I teach glassmaking to novices, so I sculpt only sometimes. Working with glass has been my career for a long time.
Sometimes, I distinguish between the art side and the craft aspect of my work, but most of the time, I am using my hands to create objects of one kind or another. If I make something functional like a door handle as a sculptural form, some people might not consider that pure sculpture, but where do you draw the line?
Much of my work consists of sculptural vessels – often vase or bowl forms that are inherently sculptural and not intended to be functional. When I used to exhibit in the US, artists used to quip, "What's the difference between a vessel and a vase?" with the answer being "around four thousand dollars"!
How long have you been sculpting?
I have been sculpting in different materials for over 50 years but began focussing on glass sculpture about 35 years ago.
What inspires your work?
I was always more focused on 3D art than 2D from an early age.
I never thought about my early influences until recently, however, I remember visiting Stonehenge at the age of 4. When you could still walk around the stones and touch them and being amazed at the forms and negative space.
Probably, I didn't understand the concept of negative space then, but I found it very inspiring. Then, on holiday in Italy when I was 9, I became fascinated by the work of Renaissance sculptors such as Michelangelo and Cellini. A memorable exhibition in my early teens was the Benin bronzes at the British Museum.
Do you have any artists from whom you take inspiration?
I've always been creative and worked with my hands. One of the UK's most inspirational ceramic artists, Gordon Baldwin, who taught me ceramics, wrote on the blackboard, "A failure is merely the inability to adjust from a preconception to reality." This has stood me in good stead over the years because glass has a mind of its own and doesn't always behave as you would expect.
In my work, I tend to introduce random elements that ensure that no piece is identical, and I call this "controlled uncontrolled".
I also do a lot of collaborative work with other artists. Everyone wants to work with glass, but it isn't accessible if you don't have the skill base, and most fine artists cannot reach a satisfactory level of ability. So those with sufficient financial backing, either from their galleries, customers or sometimes grant-aided, approach me to be their hands.
Some of these artists are keen to associate their work with my contribution, while others are not! There are quite a few works in museums dotted around the world where there is no attribution to my input, and while this mildly offends my vanity, I've been paid for the work, so some would say, "Who cares?" However, in the future, art historians are going to have difficulty working this out!
I also do a lot of collaborative work with other artists. Everyone wants to work with glass, but it isn't accessible if you don't have the skill base, and most fine artists cannot reach a satisfactory level of ability. So those with sufficient financial backing, either from their galleries, customers or sometimes grant-aided, approach me to be their hands. While this is like a sculptor working with a foundry, there are significant differences. With a foundry, you take the work to its final form and then the foundry casts the piece. With hot glass, it's more of my understanding of the artist's direction, generally with them directing and sometimes participating, realising their work for them.
Some of these artists are keen to associate their work with my contribution, while others are not! There are quite a few works in museums dotted around the world where there is no attribution to my input, and while this mildly offends my vanity, I've been paid for the work, so some would say, "Who cares?" However, in the future, art historians are going to have difficulty working this out!