The Sonoma art scene is generally quiet, practiced behind walls of studios, galleries, and even spare bedrooms, but there are places where your eardrums shatter and nostrils quiver – the deep dark dens of the sculptors.
By Jackie Lee | Sun Fine Arts
There are quite a few in town and all practice with different materials, primarily steel, bronze, and fired clay. I put on my hard hat and went calling on two such artisans.
Jim Callahan
Sonoma’s 2000 Treasure Artist Jim Callahan is the founder and manager of the LaHaye Art Center, which houses several artist studios, including his own workspace. He has received many commendations for his artistry and craftsmanship, and the League for Historic Preservation gave him its Award of Merit for the renovation of the LaHaye Art Center. He was also a founding member of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and president of the board during the acquisition and remodel of the building.
Callahan attended schools across the country in his youth and worked later as ranch hand, laborer, lab technician, truck driver, geophysical explorer, farrier, machinist, and yes, even circus animal handler before settling into the art world.
A well-known sculptor in his own right, he also casts the work of other artists who either don’t have the experience yet or who don’t have the equipment required. Casting sculptures requires scrupulous attention to detail. Jim’s own work ranges from miniature tabletop or wall-mounted pieces to monumental statues, from whimsical interpretations to serious subjects.
On the day of our interview everything was quiet, except for the faint sound of faithful dog Ginger padding around. That’s not the case on other days, which can be noisy. The furnace roars when in operation, a pocket of pure heat. “Without protection, it will burn your eyes and melt the hairs in your nose,” Jim said. “It’s a primal power of combustion that you feel deep in your chest.”
“The physical manipulation of the elements is the flashiest aspect of my sculpture,” he explained. “It requires knowledge of a very specific technical discipline. But it’s part of a larger, less visible process. What starts as private meditation or inspiration becomes three-dimensional reality when transformed into an interaction between the art and the viewer. Regardless of the intention, it becomes a private meditation again.”
Callahan sculpted the monument of General Vallejo in the Plaza. He addressed the consternation some residents have about leaving the statue in place in the wake of nationwide demonstrations on unfair treatment of disenfranchised people.
“If removing the monument would mean the end of systemic, institutionalized racism and all its deleterious effects, I would fetch my tools and make very quick work of it,” Jim said. “Wouldn’t it be nice if such a simple act could swiftly wash away the taint of bigotry and ignorance? But I don’t see the Vallejo monument as a symbol of oppression. It does not glorify racial inequity or elevate a myth of racial superiority. I can’t imagine its removal would bend the moral arc of the universe toward greater justice.”
Martin Munson
Marty Munson is part sculptor, part blacksmith, part engineer, and part antique collector. He has 125 hammers and 60 tongs he uses for varying tasks, not just collectibles. There’s also a turn-of-the-century industrial power hammer that forges hot steel. It means business and knocks your socks off.
The studio is 1,000 square feet of assorted collected materials including large- and small-scale steel and iron. The sheer volume of related construction bits and pieces could overwhelm the space if not carefully categorized and preserved in boxes on shelves, a neatness rarely seen in workshops. Noises emanate regularly from a gas forge, coal forge, forced air blower, industrial press, welding set, and dozens of other machines, not to mention the pounding of those hammers. Projects he’s working on rest on massive worktables, and kinetic works hang on tall racks.
Marty is well known for his kinetic pieces. They are sculptural mass in motion, a metaphor for harnessing and utilizing natural resources. A recent sculpture, The Tree of Possibilities, is a collection of flatware, metal leaves, and bicycle parts installed at Vailetti Plaza in Sonoma. In collaboration with Teen Services Sonoma, Marty mentored teen apprentices Alondra Perez and Leila Whitney in the project, mentioning that they were hard-working and eager to learn and he enjoys working with students.
“My use of mixed-media materials like old bicycles conveys my thinking through the association the viewer brings to the piece,” Marty said. “I mostly use recycled materials I have chosen for their aesthetic qualities. The finished parts interacting with the organic references invite the viewer to consider our place and role in nature. I respond to both my environment as a resource and to the collective effect of my life experience.”
In addition to his sculptural art, Marty is involved with engineering and original design creations for artistic home projects. Sixty percent of his work involves fabricating architectural pieces and other metalwork projects for local designers and builders. “Architects and decorators appreciate quality workmanship,” he says. “If I like the idea, I will take it on.”
Munson describes his process as a force to disturb the materials used – the very essence of physics – with himself as the catalyst of the action/reaction. “I respond to the struggle between the powers of nature,” Marty says. “It’s all wrapped up in nature’s endurance and slow reclamation versus our inability to control the process. Manipulation unveils the natural structure and the deterioration of things.”
Jackie Lee is an artist and writer focused on individual artists as well as those represented by galleries. She may be reached at: Jackieleeart@comcast.net.
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