2011 Artist Blog - Entry #12

Bust of Aristotle, Bronze, 25", 1992

Bust of Michelangelo, Bronze, 22.5", 1994

Sandra J. Shaw is a contemporary American sculptor who has been doing figurative art for about 30 years now. Although her main focus is devoted to sculpting in clay and then casting in bronze, she doesn't restrain herself to just one medium and explores things such as landscape color studies and does life drawings as well as studies of master works to develop her understanding of the subject. It is Shaw's belief that by knowing how to visualize subject on paper, artist's knowledge of sculpting also increases (which I also find to be true). Her sculpted works include life-size human figures and portraiture as well as animal art which I find to be pretty uncommon in sculpture these days. Although, animal art does seem to be absent even dating back to the Renaissance and Greco-Roman art except for equestrian statues in which horses were a major part of a sculpture. Since each and every sculptor develops his/her own style, I can only guess at what Shaw's main source of inspiration is. Her works, due to them being cast in bronze most of the time, make me think of Late Antiquity and Baroque (ex. Rodin). It is not necessarily realistic/naturalistic but more of an expressionistic style of sculptural art (expressionistic doesn't mean a lack of understanding of human anatomy, Shaw's deep knowledge of anatomy is apparent). Her two busts of Aristotle and Michelangelo definitely scream baroque to me. Shaw's carefully rendered bronze statues and busts are very appealing to look at. This sculptor's mastery is a great source of inspiration for new generation of sculptors to come, including myself. (word count - 268)

Don Quixote, Bronze, 16", 1988

My Kitten, Bronze, 6", 1987

Possession, Bronze, 15", 1999