FINDING FORM IS ALMOST A MAGICAL PROCESS

Written by Ruth Lopez

For Shray, a Northern California sculptor, finding beauty in the world is a crucial part of the artmaking process. But it's not always easy.

"Trying to encompass all of that without it being sentimental ... it is a very fine line," Shray said in a recent telephone interview.

Certain themes dominate Shray's search for beauty in her work. Most of her sculpture is about mothers and what Shray described as human interaction. But "the incredible beauty of the human form" also moves this classically trained artist who studied anatomy for five years.

Shray grew up in Colorado and after high school in the late '70s, studied art in San Francisco. She began at the San Francisco Academy of Art then, wishing for a different learning experience, switched to the San Francisco Art Institute.

Those were the days of freeform arts education and Shray soon felt she was drifting. She began to crave a more classical, i.e. more anatomical, figure-drawing approach.

"That's why I left and went back to the academy," she said. "I wanted a classical training." Shray had no interest in being a conceptual artist.

"The forms I am doing are pretty abstracted but when you look at it ... it is anatomically pretty close."

Having worked to capture the essence of the body and of movement in nature, Shray feels more comfortable taking liberties with the human form. Her challenge is in trying to capture in clay the undulation of color and form she sees in bodies.

Shray remembered the first time she saw infinite space in the landscape. It was in New Mexico, south of Albuquerque.

 

"When I close my eyes and I recreate a form in my head, it is exactly the same space," she said. "I take a form and float it around and see it and see the movement. That is how I sculpt; I use big blocks of clay"

 

Shray the cuts away, using the subtractionist method, much like a stone carver. And she has no predetermined subject or form in mind when she begins to work.

But somehow, finding the form in the clay is almost an magical process.

"It's like boom! It comes all at once. It is really intense."

Then, Shray said, it can take nine months to refine a piece. After Shray has lost herself in the clay and a form has emerged, she has a model come in, which allows the artist to work on anatomy.

Shray hopes her work inspires viewers not only to appreciate beauty but also to want to touch the work.

 

“It is definitely important that people who are looking can feel my touch in the clay and the split-second gesture of humanity.”