Process
Finding Inspiration from Other Artists
I enjoy meeting new artists and seeing (new to me) work. A friend of mine with excellent aesthetic sensibilities introduced me to the work of sculptor Judy Fox. Mesmerized? Haunted? Blown away? Spent hours listening to her lecture on Youtube? Oh yeah. Much of her work features children in poses that envoke iconic images from around the…
Read MoreGetting Back into the Rhythm
I just came back from a week-long trip to Michigan. For a mom, a week-long trip is really a three-week trip. It takes a week or so to plan, pack, and get everything ready. It takes another week to do all the laundry, dishes, meal planning, grocery run, put everything away, and get everyone’s circadian rhythm reset.…
Read MoreMy Sweet Spot
I had a model out to the studio today for the first time in what feels like forever. It was, and usually is, challenging to position him in just the right way so that his figure had balance, tension, and was not too uncomfortable for. Once we identified the perfect pose, I moved the armature…
Read MoreQ & A Fridays: Commissions
What is a commissioned sculpture and how does the process work? People are most familiar with art that hangs in galleries. The artists creates the work, brings it to the gallery, the gallery promotes it, and the art is sold in the gallery. The gallery takes a percentage of the sale and the rest is…
Read MoreNine Tons of Marble
This weekend in 2004, I imported nine tons of marble from Carrara, Italy. It would become the Virgin Annunciate. Even eight years later, it’s still incredible. ——————- Sarah Hempel Irani, Sculptor www.HempelStudios.com info@hempelstudios.com
Read MoreQ & A Friday: Clay to Stone
One of the most frequently asked questions I get in the studio is “how do you get this from clay to stone?” It’s a long answer that usually involves me getting out a diagram, an Italian stone carver, and a math textbook to explain it all. So, I thought that I would try to explain it here…
Read MoreHow the Studio Got Done, Part I
After nearly a year of searching for a studio in town, I finally decided to work in my own back yard. I have a small cottage with an even smaller one-car garage. Well, it was a one car garage back when cars could fit in a ten-foot wide space. Even my compact Mazda 5 can…
Read MoreGathering and Building
My father is coming out to Pennsylvania this weekend to help me transform an old, ugly garage into a fancy, new studio. We have to secure the foundation, move support beams on the trusses, add more outlets, install two windows and a door, insulate, drywall on the ceiling and paneling on the walls, trim it out, install…
Read MoreRejection, Get Up Again
Dear Sarah, Thank you for entering the — Competition 2013. With over three thousand entries in all media, the decisions were difficult to make. The judges met in late March and chose a small group of semifinalists. We are sorry to tell you that your work was not selected by the jury. We hope that you…
Read MoreThe Armature
The arts committee and parish priest at the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton have given me the green light to proceed with the enlargement of the four sculptures. The studio space conundrum has gotten in the way of my progress, but I have been encouraged by my ever-gracious and supportive husband to start anyway. Or in…
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