Bleeding Wings Sculpture Series

I am a painter and a sculptor, creating from my heart all the things I cannot say with mere words. My background is 20 years in production pottery so I know what clay can do in regards to expression and form. After walking away from my production pottery studio 16 years ago I did not want to touch another piece of clay again in my life. After a few years I got over that. Now I know that I could never let go of that medium and have come home again to embrace it.

I have been concentrating more on sculpture, primarily my "Bleeding Wings" series. My goal is to create strength, sexuality, pain, power, a force of intensity, emotional qualities that generate a reaction. I want to create in art the dominance of the wind that caused it to be felt on ones skin,sculptures in the form of a women. I pick up clay between my fingers and consider a certain belligerence, an attitude of confidence that meets the power I need to form an energy outside myself and I welcome it in. I paint or sculpt until I hear them breathing and their breath becomes my own. It is an awesome task that leave me in tears many a session. I seek the goddess in me as well as the goddess in all women. I move forward though as art is my life, art is who I am.

There will "always" be better and lesser than you in just about everything, no matter how much you try to master something. Thank goodness! The day you think you have arrived, and mastered something to the point you can no longer grow, that journey and perhaps life itself, will be over. Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo left us with a legacy of brilliance that has never been surpassed.

Ya gotta have music to do any kind of art to. How about some Lisa Gerrard...

"Inside the Belly of a Crime I Never Committed"

I think it is crucial for an artist to write about their work as it lends to understanding as well as new ideas. This poem, "Inside the Belly of a Crime I Never Committed", has nothing to do with this sculpture series and yet maybe it has everything to do with it.

"Inside the Belly of a Crime I Never Committed"

I feel hidden inside the belly of a crime I never committed.

I feel coaxed toward the pleasure of a sin not yet known

guilt in mind

I set focus on the betrayal of my own self worth.

As I wind my heart around it all

like a ball of yarn

lines that have been added to

with the intention of meeting other things

the warmth of a sweater

a blanket to cover me at night

or a mind that screams

when I feel vulnerable.

I am not so disillusioned by the dwelling of introspection

that I am not safe though.

My palm shows generous stories

just like any one else's.

I tend the garden ofcomplacency

grieving for lost artwork.

I hold tea parties at midnight

when no one is watching

and I call on every demon angel I have ever met there.

They tend to sing too loud though

and so

I quiet them by sharing my poems

and brushing my hair with remote intentions.

Be safe

I whisper

and we will all find shelter in a far off cove

that was always meant for lovers.

by Kathy Ostman-Magnusen

27 October 2010

Copyright 2010/2011

~~*~~

What's easier, sculpting or painting?

Here is some music by Lisa Gerrard. It is PERFECT for sculpting.

Let me just say here, DON'T get carried away with tools. Tools are fun and some are helpful but you don't need to go coo coo banana over them. Do you know what my VERY BEST FAVORITE TOOL IS? A manicure tool. One of those wooden manicure tools that you use to push back cuticles. It costs about a dollar. The other best tool? Your fingers. Don't get me wrong, as I actually do have most of the tools shown below, but before you invest in them, check out your kitchen drawers and your manicure tools. Hugs all day!

There are many books on the subject of learning to sculpt. My advice would be to learn anatomy, which is something I am doing, and to never lose the idea of play. Don't be too hard on yourself in other words.

My friend Rudolf Dierckx (The Netherlands) made this UTube of my some of my reliefs and sculptures for me. The music, Albinoni `Adagio in G Minor, was a brilliant choice I think. It is one of my favorites. The version I have played of this song so many times, while creating, is by Sarah Brightman.

"Shooting Stars"

I have these bleeding wings

I try to tell people why they are significant to me

and maybe to them

I am clumsy though.

Words come out of my mouth

like mud

and it feels like I am a blank space.

Yet

and yet

somehow I hope

I hope

that someone will understand it all

even if...

I don't.

I wonder if I will survive today.

Yesterday surprises me.. I will admit it

sometimes.

Ohhh

I think every single human being should be noticed

WAY beyond Warhol's 15 shooting stars

and yet

MOST will not feel that pleasure

and

shooting stars will be missed

dissed

and never feel a single pleasure

at all.

I feel sad today

and in that space feel a consolation

prize

because for some reason

I feel

I deserve it.

~Kathy Ostman-Magnusen

copyright 2011

I have this book on my coffee table. It reminds me that a hero lived amongst us. Leonardo da Vinci was a hero to me because he never lost the zest for learning. He kept a notebook and sketchbook with him "always" to write down questions, sketch a birds feather and measure life as an unending journey of miracles.

In this book are da Vinci's note on many subjects, from sculpture to as I mentioned birds, the wings of birds and the suggestions of how to fly like one. Can't you just imagine his face now as we fly into space?

The book I mention is not that much money. So funny considering what it give back to me personally. It is like having a view into his mind. Wow, as I write this I want to go and get that book and put it in my lap. What a lovely gift.

Love to connect with fellow artists or lovers of art!