Richard Hathaway

I also want to wait from one commission to the next as it feels more honoring to my subject. Sometimes one commission will overlap the other in some aspects of the sculpting. For example Patsy and Lucas.

Most of that “Peter Pan” stage comes within the face of the individual, though there is a great deal of knowing in the pose and posture of my subject as well.

You will see as I work on the sculpture of Dick that I will create the head separate from the body. When I feel I have reached the “Peter Pan” stage with the head I may proceed to work with another commission. As of this date both Lucas’ and Jeanine’s face have been approved. Lucas’ body should be approved soon and then both commissions will go to the next stage of the bronze process-the mold making. That is a mechanical process and requires no feeling or emotion from the artist. All of this means that it is a perfect time for me to begin Dick.

When working on commissions of individuals I try never to work on more than one at a time. The reason for this is that I have a difficult time separating each. Somehow I feel that the personalities get mixed up within the clay. I don’t know if anyone else can feel it, but I do. I have to wait for what I call my “Peter Pan” stage.

This is how I explain it in the book
“There is a scene in the movie “Hook” where a little boy comes up to the grown-up Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams. He mushes his face around pushing gently here and pulling there. The contours of Robin Williams’ face change like a piece of silly puddy, and then at one point the little boy holds the face, mushed in his hands, smiles as if some great revelation has just taken place and says, “There you are Peter Pan.” It is that same illumination that I feel when I approach this point in the sculpture. Often, in jest with the clay and myself I will push past that point of frustration, and when I capture the essence of the subject it is such an “Ahha” moment, that I will mutter to myself“ There you are Peter Pan.” It doesn’t matter who the subject is, male, female, child or adult, it is just that the childlike wonder fills me up. The Peter Pan revelation is my own game between the clay and me.”

Once I reach this stage, once I “have” the subject then I can proceed to the next sculpture commission. As I documented the last four commissions for the book and my study I noticed that my stage of “having it” may not be what my client perceives as me gaining the likeness. Lucas’ face had to be reworked several times, mostly due to the fact that I had very little good photographic reference and sculpting a five year old with photograph reference that is a year or two old is drastically different then sculpting a seventy year old person with photographs that are even five or ten years old. Children change. But even though minute changes needed to be made I knew I had him. There was a peace inside of me and the anxious feeling of searching for Lucas was gone. With each sculpture there is that anxiousness until I know I have them. The commission of Jeanine that I finished last week was similar. Interestingly enough the mother felt the pain that I felt with the photograph that I was using for her eyes. After changing the eyes a bit the mother felt it was a more peaceful sculpture. Though there may have been pain in the eyes I still felt that Jeanine had reached the “Peter Pan” stage.

Through my study at Vermont College on sculpting deceased loved ones, I have discovered that there are several ways that I look at a photograph. The first way is just as anyone would, “Nice scene, great memory captured”. The second is much more emotional. I “feel” things from the photographs. In the case of Jeanine, there were some photographs that actually caused me physical pain. The third way is mechanically. In this part of the sculpting I return back to the mechanical ways of comparing, “If his face is so wide, then his shoulders are one and one half the distance of the face, etc.. etc..”

This semester for my undergraduate interdisciplinary education at Vermont College, I am studying emotion and touch as it pertains to my sculpture and to myself as a sculptor. In the past I have studied the idea that I might have psychic empathy or there may be something spiritual going on concerning my commissions. I can’t say I really talk to the dead or anything. Though I do say, “Good morning” to each of the commissions in the studio and have been known to chat with them. I can’t say I am talking to the dead though, it is more like I am talking to my clay, and I tend to do this with all commissions, alive or deceased.

It was brought to my attention that

“I develop a relationship with the deceased.”

That seemed strange to me at first. How can one do that? But that is what I do. I look forward to getting to know Dick better, through this commission.

I have always been known as the child who was too sensitive, too emotional. I believe that this is why I can do what I do with sculpting the deceased.

I miss not having Dick’s clothes. Nancy called and said there are no clothes left, only a pair of pajamas. I could go to the thrift store and buy some old clothes as reference, but I am afraid they will be an emotional hindrance. Let me explain… With each posthumous commission there is a point when the box of personal affects arrives at my door. That is a special time for me. I carve out my space within the day and prepare myself for what emotions will come to me. Sometimes that is not easy, as was the case with Jeanine my first posthumous sculpture that was a death by suicide. That sculpture was filled with emotion, and even after receiving the box of affects I had to travel through some difficult emotions to finally capture Jeanine.

The box of affects and the clothes feeds me somehow. When I have the opportunity of having a box and clothes I also don’t want anyone to touch them or wear them until I have had time alone with them. Then I can turn them over to the model to put on and pose, creating a stand-in for my subject.

I have nothing of Dick Hathaway’s and in many ways I feel empty because of it. The closest I can come to a “personal affects” was the afternoon I spent in Dick’s office. I wish I could have taken some of it home with me. Even when I went through the box of photographs my friend wanted to reach in the box and touch the items. I believe I may have snapped at him.

“Please leave these things to me, let me touch them first.”

I surprised myself at the comment and my forwardness.

Dick’s tie. I was told he kept this in his office just in case he needed it. I could not take it with me so I scanned it. Just something else that was in the memorial box.

I received photographs from Nancy and wanted to describe one of my first steps in this process. One photograph was of her with Dick and the other was a recent one. I had requested that she take a picture of her with a ruler under her chin. Remember all of this part of the creative process is about comparisons. As I precede you will begin to understand my motives with these photographs.

Who would think that a sculptor that works in clay would have to know such things as Photoshop or computer programs? I do use digital images quite often and having the knowledge of different programs can make my job a lot easier.

Nancy said her face has changed some since the wedding photograph was taken. I know that the space between the eyes is going to be the same between the old photograph and the new photograph.

First, I scan both photographs and make them the same size, matching Nancy’s eyes. After doing this I have reduced the photograph of Nancy with the ruler down to match the size of her in the other wedding photograph. Now I have a ruler that can be used to take some measurements of Dick (notice wedding picture has ruler over Nancy’s head).
Of course this only gives me very few measurements on one plane. If I had the real person in front of me I would take several measurements for the sculpture. On the face many measurements begin with the crock of the ear, for example from the crook of the ear to the chin, the crook of the ear to the nose the crook of the ear to the forehead and there are others like the width of the face. (Below is an example of my measurement chart for portrait sculpture.)

On Dick Hathaway’s body I will want several measurements. Ankle to knee, knee to hip, the length of the arms, shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist. I’ll also need to figure out how tall Dick is when he is sitting. There are many unknowns and many guesses I’ll be making, but the input from photographs like these will help.

Not having the person in front of me makes my job much harder, so I try and find comparisons to other people and objects. When I sculpted Patsy I had a picture of her on the bench with her husband, Howard. I had a picture of myself taken on the bench with Howard and compared the shape of all of our bodies and faces together to come up with Patsy.

I also found and old photograph of Dick standing next to the shelves in the Noble Reading Room, at Vermont College. I called security at the college and asked them if they would check the photograph to be sure that it is from Noble and asked if they would mind measuring the shelves. I can see the knee in this picture and the bend in the arm, something that I could not see in the wedding photograph.

I am certain of the measurement of forty-six-inches to his chest. While at Vermont College I measured the podium. I had a few pictures of Dick standing behind that same podium.

I have included my sketch of proportions and measurements. It is a mess of doodles and thoughts but this is great progress and from here I can actually begin the process of creating an armature for Dick Hathaway.

I am so glad to have the Richard Hathaway Project Blog live.  It is hard work trying to get my commissions that are in house complete and prepare to work on Dick. I hope the money for this project comes in effortlessly, because I don’t know how much time I can put into fundraising right away. I am so glad to have the blog live and indebted to my proofreaders.

I just returned home from a long weekend of helping my daughter come home from college in Tulsa. There is no rest for the weary. As soon as I got home it was right back to it. My first phone call was from Nancy, Dick’s stepdaughter. I was elated. It was so nice to have that greeting awaiting me and encouraging me on the project. It never ceases to amaze me how important having contact with friends and loved ones is to the process of sculpting the deceased. I hope that many people will share their experiences of Dick Hathaway and Charlotte Hastings, that sharing becomes as much a part of the process as the sculpting.

Yes, it is true that Vermont College hopes to sell the campus to the University of Vermont.  Everyone seems to concur that Dick needs to be at the Montpelier campus.  I am working with the T. W. Wood Gallery and their Board of Trustees to be sure they will be the protectors of Dick.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

May 5,
I was absolutely thrilled to go to my P.O. Box and find a photograph of Dick with Nancy at her wedding.  It is a full-body shot of Dick Hathaway with Nancy standing right next to him.  As a resource for a sculptor this photograph is so wonderful! I can estimate Dick’s proportions from Nancy’s proportions.  I wish I had more of these type of photographs but this is great, I am thrilled to have it.  I also have that photograph that I requested of Nancy with the ruler under her chin.  I can’t wait for a moment to do some sketches and figure out Dick’s proportions. 

            Looking at the photograph I can’t help but think, “My, Dick had long legs!”