Here's the response I got from Martin Spei's wife, Nancy

Hello Mandy,
Thank you for informing us of your blog regarding Martin Spei's sculpture.
I am Martin's wife and handle all his promos and the business end of the sculpture. Martin forwarded your contact information to me. I want to say thank you for your interest in his work and let you know how much your feedback is appreciated.

Martin's sculpture is atypical of almost all the bronze sculpture you may see out in the contemporary art market. He is able to combine classicism, the traditional bronze medium and a very contemporary wit and humor in his sculpture. Bronze is a stodgy, old material, but when approached with Martin's understanding of the human figure and way of bringing historical references into current, sculptural language the bronze can bring forward all the metaphors Martin has intended to portray.

Artists tend to work in a solitary way and thus have little opportunity for feedback outside of shows and sales of the work. Thank you for taking the time to voice your opinions, you may not realize it, but comments such as yours are very inspirational to Martin. Sometimes it's just nice to know someone out there gets it.
Best of luck to you with future "Art Field Trips"!
Sincerely,
Nancy Spei

ps. Martin is in a show at The Edge Gallery, here is Santa Fe, opening on June 13. Two new pieces, we're excited!

Martin Spei's sculptures capture complex emotions about work

I stopped in at the Art Center at Fuller Lodge to see the Sculptural Ideas exhibit. Martin Spei's bronze sculpture "Dagda III" was what stood out. It's a sculpture of a bald man with bare feet clutching a briefcase, as if it's going to fly away, or someone is threatening it. His work. But the man is so physical, he almost doesn't look like the type to be carrying a briefcase. Like he should be doing something else entirely. He's not suited to be wearing a suit. It was really interesting.

Getting over sticker shock

I was sitting on the lawn at the Shidoni Gallery this morning, with the sprinklers going and the lawn guy weed whacking around the legs of a bronze turtle. It was such a quiet ordinary day, and I wondered what it would be like to choose a piece of art to go in your lawn.

Looking at one of the first pieces that caught my eye, it was clear that I'm not nearly rich enough to collect art. $7,500 for Philip Glashoff's "Lion" and $22,000 for Jospeh Fichter's "Cutting Horse." That's precisely the amount of money that I earned my first year out of college when I worked as a legal proofreader (with all the other starving artists, writers and actors)!

Even though I swallowed my middle-class tongue when I saw the five figure price tag, I can't imagine paying less. Glasshoff's Lion was like a fantasy lion and Fichter captured the horse as it was running and leaning into a sharp turn. Even though it was made of two dimensional slabs of bronze, it was full of life and vigor. It may have taken a whole year to make it, and who can even calculate the time and money that went into developing the talent to sculpt a horse at that impossible angle.

Anyway, artists should make as much money as humanly possible, so they can sit around dreaming of sweet stuff to make. It's not good for artists to actually starve, wasting their time and talent working as legal proofreaders.

Interview with Małgorzata Oleskiewicz-Peralba

Małgorzata Oleskiewicz-Peralba, author of The Black Madonna in Latin America and Europe: Tradition and Transformation (published by University of New Mexico Press), talks about “The Black Madonna,” a cultural icon of a mother with a dark complexion that blends ancient goddess and female symbols with the Virgin Mary, and is worshipped and adored by millions of people around the world.

What draws so many people to these images?

These images are not just images. They’re imbued with sacred energy. The most popular ones are the black ones or the dark ones. This is especially true in Europe, where the color does not reflect the population.

In Russia the dark complexion is compared to the earth. The moist earth. The female deity that gives birth to everyone. The all encompassing mother. And black earth is the most fertile.

How does the Black Madonna relate to Our Lady of Guadalupe?

The place where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared used to be the worship site where the Aztecs venerated the goddess Tonatzin. So the power was already there. It did not start with the sighting of the Virgin.

How have these images changed over time?

They’ve become independent of religious worship. People who don’t consider themselves to be Catholic have images of the Virgin of Guadalupe in their home. Not everyone who believes in her believes in God or religion.

At the borderline between cultures there is a lot of creativity with the images because of cultural ambiguity and a multiplicity of influences.

Mexican American women artists transform the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to suit their purpose and to reinforce their message. Our Lady of Guadalupe has appeared as a Xicano rights fighter in a painting by Ester Hernandez and Our Lady of Częstochowa was depicted on the cover of the Polish magazine Wprost wearing a gas mask to protest air pollution.

The Black Madonna goes with the times. She is always identified with social struggle.


Why is there a need for the Black Madonna?

People need to feel protected and guided. They need to feel like they have a mother.

* This article originally appeared in Albuquerque Arts.

Pouring Molten Bronze at Shidoni Foundry

Shidoni Foundry’s first bronze pour was in May of 1971. Founder Tommy Hicks had just sold a piano for $350 to move his family to Tesuque from Amarillo, Texas. His new foundry was in an old chicken coop, the burn-out furnace was made of fire bricks and old vacuum cleaner motors, and he used cheap plaster for his mold investment. After inviting people from local museums to see it, the molds all exploded the second the bronze touched them!

Even though it was a failure, the first pour made it clear that people love to watch the flow of liquid bronze.

37 years later Shidoni is one of the top foundries in the world. Every month they pour over 9,000 pounds of bronze at their 1,400 square foot facility. The gallery and sculpture garden represents 147 artists and the foundry is staffed by working artists.

Ede Ericson Cardell, the foundry manager who has several sculptures at Shidoni, explains lost wax bronze casting:

First the artist creates an original sculpture out of wax or clay. A rubber mold captures every detail of the artist’s work. Molten wax is poured into the rubber mold. “It’s like a chocolate Easter bunny, with a seam down the middle that they later remove,” said Cardell. “All the wax becomes bronze.”

After the wax figure is removed from the mold a trained artisan finishes it, making it a perfect copy of the original sculpture.

Wax rods are attached to create a plumbing system that allows the bronze to flow evenly. This step is called “spruing.” The bronze will be poured into a sprue cup.

With sprue system is in place they make a ceramic shell “investment” by repeatedly dipping the wax statue in liquid ceramic and then sand. After the investment is cured for several days the piece is fired in a kiln, baking the shell, melting the wax and leaving a cavity for the bronze.

When the ceramic shell is removed from the kiln, molten bronze is immediately poured in at 2100º F.

Once cooled the ceramic shell is broken away to reveal a bronze sculpture. The sprue system is cut away. The pieces are welded together, sanded and polished to look exactly like the original. It can be treated with chemicals and heat to become whatever color the artist chooses.

The foundry completes every step of the process in house to ensure quality. The cost of a bronze piece comes down to labor, hours from start to finish, and the pounds of bronze used. Shidoni helps their employees (most of them are emerging artists) build a body of work by letting them cast their pieces at cost, instead of retail.

“We’re very proud of our Made in the USA policy,” said Cardell. “It’s really important to keep jobs here and to keep our people employed.”

Shidoni has done well inviting collectors and visitors to see the behind the scenes process. “We’ve actually made a few collectors that way. They saw it and were hooked,” said Cardell.

At a Saturday afternoon pour in December, Tommy Hicks personally led the crowd of people into the facility.

Hot air, green light and energy whoosh out of the stove. A worker wearing earplugs, silver protective pants, a long silver coat, helmet and thick gloves dipped a thermometer the size of a weed whacker into the mouth. The temperature is 2154º.

Our attention turns to the monstrous burn-out furnace, with the word hot scratched onto the surface. An elaborate pulley system slowly lowers a platform of piping hot ceramic shells and places them on a sand pit, center stage. Using the pulleys, the workers guide a cauldron around the shells and pour bronze into each sprue cup, muttering “you’re good,” and “up a little bit” or “down a little bit.”

Spectators click pictures and gasp when glowing bronze almost splatters a boot. When it’s over, everyone applauds.

* This article first appeared in Albuquerque Arts.

The purpose for this blog

I moved to New Mexico from New York City a little over a year ago, and one of the things that I have enjoyed the most is seeing the art galleries and meeting artists from New Mexico. The art scene is full of vibrant colors, tradition, and originality, and I find it very inspiring.

I have been lucky to have a chance to write about artists for the local paper and regional magazines. My idea for this blog is to continue to write about artists that I meet and admire, and have a place to jot down my ideas and point out things that catch my eye.

Enjoy!