Why I Sculpt the Female Form

The short answer is women are more fun to sculpt.

Men are nice to observe. I never saw a pair of biceps in a plain white t-shirt that didn’t appeal to me, for that seems to be masculinity boiled down to a “t” for me. Voices, too. It’s nice to listen to deep voices. Yes, men are nice to observe, and if my husband decided to splurge on my art and hire a male model for me to sculpt, I’d force myself to endure the ordeal, I’m sure.

Yes, men are nice to observe, but women are more fun to sculpt.

Warning, if you have a Y chromosome, let me save you some trouble before you keep reading in hopes of hearing sordid tales and lurid fantasies. . . I don’t sculpt women for sexual reasons.

It took me a months of sly remarks from male friends to figure this out, but the reason I sculpt women is spiritual. Yes, I’m serious. I’ve read books about goddesses, and I’ve chanted mantras from a book about Hindu goddesses. I’m a skeptic about all organized religion, about anything involving higher powers and spirits we cannot quantify with science, but I’m also one of those people who needs spirituality. What a quandary, huh? My solution is to enjoy reading about religions and cultures who worship goddesses (and gods for that matter, but it’s usually the goddesses who attract my attention) and then use that information for inspiration when I’m melting glass. Lately, I’ve been thinking about why I choose the goddesses. It’s the whole idea of empowering females, giving women confidence. I don’t ask for women to be superior to men, that’s not it. What I ask is for all women to feel they are equal in value to the world.

Sculpting a graceful, beautiful, powerful female imparts some of that grace, beauty, and power to me as I form it…and I hope it does the same thing for you as you look at it or hold it. What more reason would I want for sculpting?