Richard Hathaway

Jennifer is gone but, before she left she and I were able to make our way ½ way around Dick- his right hand and foot, right arm and leg. I’m taking a break from the sculpting to spend my days writing my black book for school- writing and sculpting. I have had this little dance my entire life. When I am sculpting I think of things I want to write and when writing I wish I were back sculpting. The push pull is not as bad as it used to be when I was younger. Now I enjoy the time doing each, and know the other ferments inside of me. It builds my passion to write or to sculpt.

This writing does give me less time to think on Dick and on Charlotte. I feel myself emotionally and physically distancing myself from them when I am upstairs in the office writing instead of down in the studio.

I have interviewed a new apprentice. We will see how that works out.

The shirt on the side and part of back, as well as part of the pants on the right side of Dick have been roughed in and are ready for Jennifer to smooth out. The legs are far from being done.

I have added the roughed in right hand to see how the entire side works together. I am debating about making the right hand a bit higher and need to decide this, but major reconstruction and cutting of the underlying metal will have to be done to accommodate this. I have put the roughed in shoe under Dick. When the shoe is not there a coffee can supports the weight of Dick Hathaway. I can’t wait to get going on this lower leg. Now, with the shoe in place, I’ll be thinking about the entire area, shoe, pants, leg and right arm/hand. Everything is worked on while I look at my reference photographs of my fellow classmate that posed for me. YOU NEVER HAVE ENOUGH REFERENCE! Plus some of the pictures of the classmate pose has small changes that probably only I notice. And the left arm is not in the position that I would like so I have to be very creative with the other arm and hand. Presently no work has been done on the left arm and hand.

Jennifer groaned a little as she began to smooth out Dick. She is off on Tuesday so I am anxious to see how far she will get with smoothing out Dick through the week before her last day on Friday. Jennifer’s internship is a nonpaid internship and this has helped me tremendously in being able to donate my $16,000 to this project.

As I said the mass of clay now really needs detail and attention. Prior to this Dicks front looked pouched and fat, but as I begin to carve the details of each fold, using the photographs of my classmate in the position, I can see things shaping up. I have placed real buttons on the clay to help me as a visual guide. Slowly I’ll move around the shirt and pants looking, comparing carving and adding. Somehow it all adds up. There is a good chance that the areas that I spent so much time on this week will be changed or modified as the rest of the sculpture takes shape.

Sculpting the shoes we start with foam. Jennifer carved the foam and glued pieces together with foundry wax and wooden dowels. Then we added the clay on top. It is important to match the sculpted shoes with the real shoes from all directions. Looking at them from top together, bottom together and the side. As I said before compare, compare compare!

Jennifer diligently worked on the shoes and I have to admit that I enjoyed working on them one day for three hours in front of the television. It felt good to work on something little for a while. We are modifying the design of the store bought shoes. I also could only find a size 11. I hope that works. Jennifer worked on them for a couple of hours and had to quit. It is mind-boggling trying to figure out what shoelace goes where. I love working on them and can’t wait for more time to make them looks old and worn

I have been trying to focus on getting everything roughed in on Dick. The reason being is that this coming week is my last week with Jennifer. Smoothing the clay once it is roughed in is a tremendous amount of work and is very hard on my wrists and hands. I want to be able to take advantage of her young hands. If I have my way the entire shirt and pants will be complete by the end of next week. Then I hope to take a week off of sculpting to focus on schoolwork and writing. After that it is just a matter of finished dicks hands, shoes and then of course taking his head back off of the sculpture and finalizing the head. We are so close to finishing! I sure wish I had another apprentice coming in.

One thing that this commission has revealed to me is how much I miss the interaction with the surviving relatives. I sat in the studio thinking about it and became very lonely. I thought about Charlotte and pictured her there watching and I felt better. It is strange the person that gives me the most comfort in sculpting this deceased is the deceased.

I found shoes today; I had to spend $35.00 on them. They are new. I wrapped them with plastic in hopes that I can return them in a few weeks. It will be so helpful to have some three dimensional reference. Jennifer began by putting together some foam and is going to get a basic shape for the shoe. She is catching up with me. She has the hands roughed in for me and will soon have the shoes. I hope by the time the shoes are roughed in I can have some parts ready for her to do on the main torso. I only have her for a couple more weeks.

The details on the hands will probably take me two days, and the shoes about four. We cut off the other shoe from the main sculpture so that we could work on them both at the table. This is much easier than crawling around on the floor.

I wonder what others think when they see the sculpture. Can they see it yet? A friend came by and said that she does see it and that it is coming along. I do think it has come a long way in just eleven days. Here are some pictures of Dick and I. Once again everything is just roughed in and some parts not roughed in at all.

( my dog Emmy wanted to get in the photograph with Dick)

I am going nuts trying to find shoes. One would think I could find a simple pare of sneakers at the second hand store. After a few stops I was discouraged. Today I head off to Payless to buy a brand new pare of shoes. Or at least try to.

Why am I so obsessed with the shoes? Maybe I have just become used to having the shoes on my past commissions. It is such a wonderful reference to have and a great place to begin to capture detail. Besides, it is something that Jennifer can work on while I am busy trying to figure out the details on Dick’s torso.

Today was a busy day.

LUCAS
First Jennifer pin pricked a Xerox copy of Lucas’ tea shirt so that we could transfer the image into the wax. I was grateful for her young eyes. When she is done I will carve it out of the wax. The pattern will then show up in the metal.

DICK
Later I had her working on Dick’s hands. They start with wire and then carefully Jennifer added clay for me until she had fingers formed. She seemed to enjoy the process. I showed her how to tip the underside of the fingertips upward, and then how to make knuckles. Later I’ll work on the hands myself. Dick Hathaway had big hands so I want to be sure that I have the correct size. Time to review the video clip again.

Frustrated with the body I asked Jennifer to hold Dick’s head near the torso so I could see the design of the entire piece.
She is such a great apprentice, such a hard worker and great attitude. She held it up and then I took pictures. Then I put his head back on the stand.

With frustration surfacing again I Later decided to actually secure his head to the body. I rarely do this until the bust is complete and the torso is complete. Later I will take it off again to work on the details of his face. It is roughed in enough so that I can work on the body and get an overall picture. In just a couple of weeks Dick is coming to life!

I sort of freaked inside of myself when rolling around on my stool and looking up at the sculpture. From a certain angle I saw my deceased grandfather. I mentioned something to Jennifer, she said sitting at her angle she saw her deceased great-grandfather who was a sculptor. I laughed and said, “Maybe they are all here helping.”

One of the elements that this commission lacks is personal contact. Because the process of sculpting Dick consists of raising money for casting and my donating the sculpting, it is of a different nature than most of my other work. There are no loved ones that I can contact on a regular basis and talk with. I am beginning to see how much this is an important element of the process of sculpting the deceased. Those that are left behind are my inspiration. I draw on their love and energy to bring the work of art to life. They are mixed within the clay.

I loved e mailing Jeanine’s mom on a regular basis. Sometimes she would just send me stories, or writings and when the packages would come with video or tape recordings I was elated. I was able to celebrate her child with her. That is a tremendous part of the process. As I learned last semester, as I studied this process, it is also quite healing for my clients. Where else can they go where they can continually talk about their loved one? Many times in our Western culture we are encouraged to “move on”. There is a wonderful book called Continuing Bonds by Phyllis R Silverman, that states that continuing bonds with the deceased is not only healthy but should be encouraged. That is what I do, I help my clients to continue bonds. Together through their love we create, and there is really no better way to express love than to create. The sculpture is not an idol to hold up on a pedestal but an actual and physical manifestation of the continuing bonds, the love. I am so blessed to be able to do this.

I do wish others who knew Dick would write, or send pictures. Maybe I’ll watch the video again, but this creativity it is not from just within me, it is somehow attached to those who knew and loved the person. I need more of that right now. It is truly my inspiration.