Creative Woodworks & crafts 2000-06, страница 40
awards) at various international compelions. Neil's primary interest, is in figu- pP^^' r a live sculpture. He explains, "I am F'"'-?- * fascinated with storytelling, and try to capture some of its allegorical magic in my pieces." Often, his commissions call for research which is appealing lo him as well. "You get a good interesting story and there is so much available in terms of what you can acid to the subject matter." His current project is a life-sized sculpture of Thomas Ingersoll, for whom his home town of Ingersoll, Ontario is named. To Neil, that calls for research and learning about Ingersoll's place in local and Canadian history, which, along with any available pictures and descriptions, will help him in his portrayal. The process of carving, too, calls for study ancl research. In his sculpture of Tecurnseh, for example, Neil made several small clay life. versions to determine the pose he want- ed. Then, he created a life-sized man-®Bj|gf\ nequin, and, after considerable research into Native dress, sewed ■B^B^Ife. clothing for it. The seven-foot stat-IWIBlft* ' ue was lhen carved out of a single walnut log. It look six months of . steady work to complete. s^liP'^llilWsm'r Another major undertaking was Neil's 1996 Show of Angels \ ': at Nancy Poole's sludio in j|j|'-. , " Toronto, Canada. For that, he made nine angel carvings out Wwrnsfr'^ » of basswood, some life-sized. , 4 . - One consideration Neil had ^.f. 'V, ' was how to best depict an angel. After some delibera-lion, he decided to follow the M^fW/j ' tradition of portraying angels with wings. Neil explains, "I couldn't come up with a sculp-tural presentation lhat I felt would have quite the airiness or drama that wings have, so I threw llillll^' them in." Part of the task of dealing wi th "recognizable icons/' Neil points out, is coming up with engaging work while retaining features that, everybody ^m/ understands. He explains that the chal- lenge of doing figurative work is that there is nothing terribly original about the whole format. The figure has been sculpted for millennia. Even a person who may not know how to sculpt a figure can see when something is wrong. While the possibilities are enormous, "the possibility of falling on your face is enormous too." Therefore, Neil warns, "You'd better stay sharp." The pleasure for Neil is in creating character, where a small variation in form makes a big difference in the outcome. Clearly, Neil is a sculptor who puts as much thought into his works as he does carving skill and know-how. • Neil Cox is one of the finest wood sculptors in North America. Born in Ingersoll, Ontario, he now lives in Toronto. Neil recently completed a life-sized slatue of the Shawnee warrior Tecurnseh for the Windsor (Ontario) Wood Carving Museum. lie was awarded the commission over entrants from throughout North America. Neil's interest in wood carving began about fifteen years ago when he was visiting friends who had a wood-carved statue from Oberammergau. "it turns out il was one of these mass produced religious tourist carvings," Neil explains. He was intrigued, however, by the statue and decided Lo try his hand at carving. Those modest first steps were satisfying for Neil, even with hobby tools. Eventually, he worked with wood sculptor Stefan Venyarszeky in North Carolina. That early venture into wood carving led him to try many-other sculptural techniques. ^ Neil notes, "I prefer to sculpt in wood or stone, but I also enjoy working JltSlilll^ in a number of other lilf||tH8| media, including Jp|f|j|»H bronze, sand, snow, ice, clay, and even butter."' ^f Neil had been carving for about three years when H^^pflK^^l he "scraped enough ^^^^^HhHh [together] to get a m^mIIIhHhH plane ticket and ^^^^^^WH^Hm went off to Europe." He first fefS? went lo England and then visited galleries in France, f^HH Belgium, Germany, ^w^^^^iH and Austria. Neil explains that he worked his way down % to Italy and found a t.; , place where "you can v grab some tools and stone and away you go." Wl&vm While abroad, Neil also look some language classes and studied figure drawing. He spent five months carving stone in Italy and another month touring around. He brought a block of stone back home with him, but says, "I haven't had a chance lo do any stone work since." In North America, Neil found thai wood carving shows were becoming more and more common, ancl that there was a demand for his wood sculpture. Soon, he began receiving recognition for his excellent work. Jn 1989, he won the Best of Show ai the Canadian International Woodcarving Competition, and has since won four other Bests of Show (and numerous other Son of Ottawa, butternut |
