Sculpture Index

“My art is an experiment with the induction of attention and presence for the alteration to higher dimensional morphology.” -- the artist

My favored sculpture media are alabaster, wood, and found objects installations. I've worked other forms, such as: monumentals in concrete, clay, bronze, wire and metal, balsawood and fabric, over-stuffed fabric, and styrofoam. I enjoy and do well within those media but it is alabaster, wood, and found objects installation which call to me the most.

Wood was my first professional media. Unfortunately few pictures remain of these early pieces. Sold and delivered into their new homes long before I could even give a thought to proper cataloging. Such was life before the convenience of digital cameras and hard drives.

"The wood sculptures of Claude Needham are reminiscent of the early Cubist masters in France and Germany as well as some of the smaller works of Henry Moore. Needham uncovers forms that are inherent in the raw woods which come to him." -- Linda Corriveau

My sculptures, especially in stone, are very three-dimensional. In fact many of my pieces have no obvious base. As I work a piece I will rotate it through all spherical angles revealing a multiplicity of forms within one. Wonderfully, this symphony of divergent forms are held within a single encompassing totality. As an example, take a peek at Crescendo in A minor.

Other artists will self-comment that they do not feel themselves to be the creator of a work of art, rather they feel grateful for the opportunity to be present during the creation as an observer and participant. This is very much what happens for me during the final phase of working a piece. After the basic form is present and most of the industrial hacking and hewing is over I can settle into a rhythm of hand-tooling.

"His sculptures are three-dimensional in form but convey strong overtones of non-visual perceptions. They are an invitation to touch, sense and feel the compassionate mood that is unique to the process that takes place in his studio: the liberation of inherent forms from neglected material. He calls his technique: “Direct carving, with a hand guided by adoration of the piece—the veiled inner form." -- h.e.i.

This is when I fall in love with the piece. It's not a question of appreciation or admiration. Quite the contrary. Appreciation and admiration are rooted in comparison and judging. For me it is more adoration and simply taking pleasure in the existance of the sculpture.

So much of the preparation before this point is done with little or no expectation that the piece will turn out. Without the ability to persist in the absence of reasonable expectation that the piece would work fewer than one out of ten sculptures would be complete.

"The aesthetic of Needham’s oeuvre frequently touches worlds that are as alien as Lovecraft’s tales of the underworld. Startling horror lingers on the edge of the confrontable, but there is always a balancing dash of humor. A Solomon’s Ring that he uses to get through to his morestartling piece is: “You can’t change what it is, but you can learn to like it." -- Linda Corriveau

At this point I enter a balancing act embracing the moments while the sculpture finally reveals its inner nature, breathing deep the gathing form, waiting for that moment when the piece will announce itself as complete.