The major change, concerns the Cremation Urns, under the headings Urns, and Vessels. From this point forward i.e. May, 2012, only single issue urns will be available for sale on the site, That is, my urns will never again be available for replication. Six urns on www.michaelsculptre.com meet this criterion, namely, ”Journey”, “A Single Rose”, “Tango Redux”, “Shell”,”Dolphin Pod”, and “Infinite Wait. Additionally, my newest urn, “Vessel II”, and a new design ”The Space in Between” (see header for the wood and limestone model, to be done in a white alabaster with a stainless steel pedestal/urn), will be included in the set, for a total of 8 available urns probably by sometime this fall/winter.

Under the Commissions heading: “Continuous Line in Space” has been purchased through New Mexico Arts by The National Cave and Karst Institute in Carlsbad, NM, and  was permanently installed at the Carlsbad site in October 2011.

Lastly under Contact, I no longer have a Facebook page.

My sculpture process begins with the creation of a virtual sculpture in a 3D program and is based in my background in engineering drawing. Sketched drawings of an interesting found natural form (bone, shell, rock, driftwood etc.) are taken into the program, refined, and laid out in two planar views. A simple cross sectional view of the piece to-be-designed is drawn at 90º to the other views, and fit into the outline of each of the planar views. The three dimensional piece is then designed by replicating and conforming multiple cross sections into the outline of each planar view. The cross sections are then joined by a ‘skinning’ operation to form the virtual sculpture. The 3D sculpture can be changed and refined with infinite rotation in the three divergent planes. It took me about 6 months to learn how to work this part of my sculpture process into a basic graphic design program, and several years to understand what the program could and could not do to help the sculpture process. Each time I get into a new design I learn more about the 3D program and how to refine my virtual sculpture process so that by the time I am ready to carve a ‘real’ material my understanding of the form is more complete.

However, in my latest work I became mired in this virtual part of the sculpture process, not really understanding where I wanted to go with the idea… a classical ‘not seeing the forest for the trees’ dilemma. The sculpture was based on the relationship between two broken seashells, and my plan was to arrange the two modules to be seen together as a single entity. The initial mistake was to design the piece as a single entity, not recognizing that the third and most important component of the sculpture would be the ever-changing space between these modules, and that each had to stand on its own for the relationship to work. Once this idea for the use of negative space became apparent the virtual sculpture design flowed, and there was no question that the title for the work would be “The Space in Between”. The virtual part of the sculpture process was now complete, and has been posted in detail at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_orgel/6717872717/in/set-72157628920064977/

I often use a maquette in my sculpture process to work out design kinks and to in-turn be used as a model for enlargement. In this instance, laminated black walnut was used to carve the two modules, and a limestone base was used to position them in order to define “The Space in Between”. Because I had spent considerable time in the virtual sculpture process, I was comfortable making immediate design changes in the maquette. In comparing the side-to-side photos above, the smaller figure (to the left) was carved with an interior hood at its top and bottom… a small but important addition that is difficult to achieve in the virtual sculpture process. And, the larger (right) module was carved with a more open orientation in order to improve the visual impact of the space between the two figures, and their combined oval conformation in this view.

Lastly, in the sculpture process to date, was the need to position the two walnut figures on their limestone base to make them become the parts of a single sculptural entity, while retaining their individual recognition… the most difficult, yet most rewarding, part of the exercise. Multiple images of the walnut maquette to document the changing ‘space in between’, and the tension created by the almost touching modules is now available in the set in Flickr, completing this part of my sculpture process. http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_orgel/6717872717/in/set-72157628920064977/

I envision a large outdoor work, most likely carved in Indiana limestone with a stainless steel base, as the final step of the sculpture process for ”The Space in Between”.

This evolving sculpture process has remained a long-term constant in my work including the creation of Sculpture Cremation Urns. See also: http://www.freepressrelease.com/sculpture-cremation-urn/284941/

When I find an interesting organic form, it takes a good deal of study to determine what attracted me to the form. My focus always is to reduce a model to its essentials. You may want to think of this as an abstractive process (which it is), but mainly it is a study of the underlying architecture of the form.

I think I did not think enough about this, and approached the form when it was still too young in my mind. The first piece was designed in a 3D program, and sculpted in wood as a quite small work. It was a dud, but on concentrating on the essential form it was there… plus. I stuck with the arch concept, and made new drawings using the dud as a model, retained only the central arch form, completely reduced the footing, and redesigned the piece as an elegant two-headed creature.

I have talked a bit about my background, and the sources of my sculpture ideas, but not the recycling of ideas. I am interested in form and the understanding of the essentials of a shape, so it has become second nature to rework some of my forms. For example, this sculpture, “The Ties That Bind”, seemed to be asking to become a large piece. It was modeled from a broken sea shell, and itself became the model for “Continuous Line in Space”.

Re-study of “The Ties That Bind” made me understand that its understated central edge would become the focus of the large work. “Continuous Line in Space” would be a sculpture based on a strong and endless edge that defined a central negative space. Additionally, the limestone substance of the piece would directly join adjacent parts of the line forming a delicate, spiraling, upper bridge portion of the work, a long curving channel through the lower body of the piece; a sculpture pared down to its essence. A different but surely related work was derived from a return to an idea I liked and wanted to continue. The full sculpting sequence of ”Continuous Line in Space” can be found on my Flickr pages.

As shown in this photo, ”Continuous Line in Space”, was completed in 2007, and toured the Southwest in two year-long outdoor sculpture shows in Colorado, and then went to the sculpture court of the Seedboat Gallery in Silver City, NM. I learned in August of 2011 that my traveling sculpture had found a permanent home in Carlsbad, NM. ”Continuous Line in Space” had been accepted into the 2011 New Mexico Purchase Only Initiative and was chosen through the NM 1% for Public Art Program, to be installed on the grounds of the new headquarters for the National Cave and Karst Research Institute.

After adding a new limestone base, “Continuous Line in Space” was installed at NCKRI in Carlsbad, NM in October of 2011. The below images show an in-situ view, and a close-up view of the installed sculpture.

I work differently from most sculptors I know (we all do), based on my background but mostly on how my brain works. Career choice councilors were in vogue when I was a teenager, and I remember having a bunch of possibilities based on my test results… with a strong recommendation, however, that I not go into anything involved with three dimensional perception. Subsequently, I have done nothing in my life not involved with the 3D universe (and copious use of double negatives).

First, to the models. Many of my ideas for a new work come from found objects. I am an avid collector of natural organic form, and interesting shells, bones, plants, driftwood, and photographs of large rock formations are carried back to the studio, perhaps to make the cut for the next step in the process. Sometimes the model itself suggests an idea for a new work, but an idea may seek a model from the collection for study… and study it takes… I think that the ability to intensely immerse oneself in the form may be the most important step to a successful endpoint. My interest is not to copy the form, but to acknowledge the shape that drew me in, and reduce it to its bare essentials.

A quite recent work, “Midnight Serenade” is shown in the header of this entry.  It was modeled after a desiccated milkweed leaf, and went through four iterations before becoming a lovely black bird on a branch. More to follow on the specific parts of the process.

One was a move to fabricate my pedestals mostly from stone plate material in order to decrease the weight of the piece and, voila, you now have a nice interior space. The other was a talk with a friend and collector of my work who was searching for a sculpture cremation urn, and who encouraged me to consider the possibilities.

… And some further thoughts about the matter of my urns.

First and foremost these pieces are sculpture. Their creation follows the same process (more to come) of my other small and large works, with a constant attempt to reduce organic form to its essence.  The integrated piece should be enjoyed for what it is, a work of art.

The sculpture form acts as a handle to open its pedestal, and the interior space may be used as the final resting place for a loved one, or for hidden storage.

This website is the only venue for the sale of my sculptural vessels, allowing them to be priced without the overhead of gallery charges.

The header image, “Vessel II” was described in my previous entry. It is the latest addition to my series of sculpture urns.

I have always had an interest in drawing, and went public early, when a drawing of a sailing ship made the cover my 8^th grade yearbook. I took a formative engineering drawing class in my first year of college, and continue to use these techniques in my design process. Further on in my university studies, comparative and human anatomy formed a lasting interest in organic form.

My background includes a 12-year academic experience at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, which thoroughly shaped the rest of a 25-year practice of plastic surgery. My interests in sculpture predated, and proceeded concurrently with my medical practice, and these parallel vocations benefited from a frequent cross-over of ideas, and a long apprenticeship in sculptural aspects of the human body. In 1996, I decided to devote my full energies to my sculpture career, which allowed me to get involved in the public art process.

While my sculpture is not always suggestive of the human figure, it invariably has anthropomorphic aspiration, and many of my sculptural ideas have originated from objects found in nature to which I give a human quality. The design of this work comes from a natural form removed from its context, and transformed by drawings and three-dimensional imaging into a shape with new meaning.

I also plan to use this medium to introduce recently completed work. Here’s a description of the header image.

“Vessel II”, African mahogany/ limestone/ bronze, 8” x 15” x 11”, 23#, 2011

I have always liked the form of “Vessel” inspired by a seedpod. This transformation involved a move back to working in wood, and its combination with limestone and bronze. Here, a gorgeous African mahogany shapes the hull of the vessel, and is split by a plate of bronze forming the prow and stern. A bronze plate supports “Vessel II” and keys into a bronze inlay of the tiered limestone pedestal.