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Sculptor Lisa Gordon explains her medium, bronze and steel, the casting process is ancient and the resulting sculptures and intention behind the artists’ work.
During a required three-dimensional design course, I was exposed to the casting process, and I was hooked! I found a passion that was full of fire, creativity, and community. Then I learned to fabricate and weld. The combination of casting, fabrication and the horse’s form became its own kind of alchemy.
My medium is metal, both cast and fabricated. The casting process is ancient and the resulting sculpture is innately archival. The horse’s figure is cast in bronze because it imbues a sense of “organicness” which I enjoy. Each piece has elements of my hand – down to my fingerprints. The bases, which are fabricated, thus involving welding, are relatively modern, and I appreciate an industrial, architectural, and utilitarian reference.
I hope collectors notice how I am always looking for a dichotomy when composing my sculptures. Even when I am not combining metals, I use whimsy or tension as an amalgam.
With some exceptions, I tend to work in series rather than editions. Most bronze artists create their work in oil clay and then partner with a foundry to complete the finished sculptures and strive for cohesion between each in the edition. I do most of the work, a labor of love, myself. Each piece is sculpted uniquely from the beginning and variations are welcome and explored.
This might sound hokey, but I would like to think that my sculptures become part of a family like a beloved pet. Touch it, talk to it, give the horse a name outside of its title, and move it around if it is small enough or not too delicate.
The horse’s form is something that I am innately familiar with. I continue to explore the horse’s form because each piece is a personality. Since the first time I picked up a crayon, it was my subject of choice. Now as an adult and artist, having a horse of my own, there is nothing like running my hands over my horse’s body in grooming, in praise after a good ride, and developing a bond with touch. I get a similar feeling when I run my fingers over the wax as it warms and molds intricately into muscles and gestures that evolve into a horse’s form and in turn into a sculpture.
Learn more about Gordon’s work by reading her artist biography and the Ann Korologos Gallery blog. Find currently available work here.
