Sutton Betti

Modern Classical Bronze Sculpture

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#18 Alberta Brianti maquette

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Alberta Brianti maquette

A few weeks ago I got the approval to sculpt a life size statue of the popular Italian womens tennis player Alberta Brianti. The sculpture will be in a limited edition of 10 and cast in bronze available sometime in July or August. Alberta is a unique tennis player in that she is one of very few womens tennis players who still uses the single hand backhand swing. Most womens tennis players use the double hand backhand (ie gripping the racquet with both hands) when hitting the ball because it gives them more power. This sculpture is designed to show the once popular tennis technique in a modern way where it is more and more of an uncommon sight at womens tennis tournaments across the world. The technique has advantages and disadvantages over the two handed. The advantages are that it allows for greater reach, it’s easier to hit lower and higher balls, and hitting slice is much easier. The disadvantages are that it does not have the power that a two handed has.

#17 Out with the new, in with the old

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“Puddler’s Lunch Break” by Sutton Betti
Out With the New, In With the Old
 

 

“What is all the fuss about?” Those were not the words that artist Sutton Betti had in mind when sculpting “Puddler’s Lunch Break”, a monument installed in Boulder City, Nevada. However, the statue created a lot of controversy in this small town 20 miles south-east of Las Vegas and home of the second largest dam in the United States.
The monument was created to honor the workers of Hoover Dam whose job it was to pour and smooth layer upon layer of concrete in what would be, at the time, the tallest dam in the world. The statue came with an expensive price tag and many of the town citizens were upset that the project happened despite budget cuts. But it was the classically inspired sculpture that eventually won the people over as it serves to educate the many tourists who visit Hoover dam.
Sutton Betti, born and raised in Davis, CA is the artist that created Puddler’s Lunch Break, a monument showing two workers telling stories during a lunch break while building the dam. “Although these guys lived during the great depression they were not unhappy people as they were the lucky few who had jobs. I wanted to show them happy.” Now living in Colorado the artist makes his home in one of the worlds largest exporters of bronze sculpture Loveland, Colorado. Although a small city of about 70,000 people it houses more sculptors per capita than any U.S. city and is known as the gateway to the Rockies. With four bronze foundries, a stone quarry and dozens and dozens of independent specialists in the bronze business, Loveland is a unique city for a sculptor to live and work in. Betti finds comfort in being surrounded by many of the nations most notable sculptors including Jane Dedecker, George Lundeen and Kent Ullberg. “These are artists whom I’ve admired for many years. Artists who have created monuments all over the United States and now that I live here I get to learn from them and see how they work.”
Betti’s work is classical and he has an appreciation of the old masters that goes back to when he was a teenager admiring a book on Michelangelo that his grandmother gave to him. He remembers going to Italy to study marble carving from master stone carvers and developing a deep appreciation of this long tradition. “It was as if what was being taught to me was something that will soon be forgotten and these were men who were carrying on their backs hundreds of years of knowledge in marble carving”. In fact, many of the master craftsmen spoke unfavorably of the influence of modern and abstract art as if it were one of the reasons behind the loss of interest in stone carving, Betti says. Up until the turn of the century sculptors would hire these skilled artisans to create their monuments in stone. But today, with an influx of different abstract and modern art styles, these men are hard to find as they are no longer needed. “The human figure in art up until the late 19th/early 20th century was very common. After the impressionists came about that all changed.”
Although Betti was surrounded by abstract and modern art for most of his life, he found something more meaningful and challenging in creating a realistic portrayal of the human body. “There is so much freedom and expressiveness that can be created in a human figure. Once you learn the basics of anatomy you can pretty much do and say anything you want.”

 

#16 anatomy and art instruction booklet

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I have been encouraged by a few people to make an instructional booklet and an ecorche (anatomical human body sculpture). Although I have never really taught sculpture I feel that it is something that I would like to do in the future. Many of my family members are teachers and I feel that it is in my blood and it would be selfish for me to go my whole life and not teach. What is it that I would like to help others with? Understanding the human body and art.

When I was a student at the Academy of Art we used to study cadavers at SFSU and my memory of this trip to the cadaver room is fairly vivid. There were about 30 dead bodies all on tables covered in a sheet. Our teacher, the sculptor and anatomist Thomas Marsh, would pull off the sheet to expose the dead body. Although a few people had to leave the room, most of the students were fascinated. To me it wasn’t a dead body. I saw muscles and bones and it all started to make sense having previously only seen pictures and illustrations of cadavers in a book. Seeing the muscles in the flesh (no pun intended) was pretty cool.

Years later I worked for a sculptor named Danielle Anjou. Danielle hired me to sculpt human bodies. That was all that I did, human body after human body. Working closely with her I cranked out about one figure every week and after about 2 years I did close to 60 sculptures for her (yeah, we added em up and I’m guessing I had quite a few slow periods as I should have completed about twice that). During that 2 year period I worked from only one ecorche. This ecorche was our prized possession and was huge in my growth as a sculptor and in understanding the human form. I think back on that time as yet another example of the importance studying anatomy was.

Although I have known for a long time the importance of understanding anatomy, it is only recently that I’ve noticed that I have the understanding to create one of these sculptures and accompanying booklet for others to learn from. It is now that I realize that all of my anatomy homework assignments were very instrumental in my understanding of the human body and understanding of the musculature (of which there is still SO much more to learn and I stress SO much more!).

I do not know when this anatomical sculpture will be ready, but I do plan on having it in the 2012 Loveland Sculpture Invitational. More photos to come in the coming weeks and months…

#15 She Loves Me 2011

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During the 2011 Loveland Sculpture Invitational show I met a woman who deeply fell in love with one of my sculptures She Loves Me. Although I did have some people say how much they enjoyed my gnome series, none was more passionate about She Loves Me than her. After a few emails and a trip to her inn to discuss details of the sculpture, She Loves Me was purchased by the collector and installed October 2011. The sculpture was the 3rd large scale piece I made that was not a commissioned piece. She Loves Me is a sort of portrait of the artist and was inspired by my girlfriend Jessica. Below is a quick snapshot of the sculpture in the garden of the inn near the entrance. I will take more pictures in the near future.

#14 Green Thumb 2011

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On October 31, 2011 I installed my sculpture Green Thumb for the city of Broomfield’s Art for Awhile program, a one year art on loan program setup in 2009 to display artwork, in particular sculpture. The five foot high sculpture is positioned on the west side of Broomfield’s Auditorium and Mamie Doud Eisenhower library and in between two other sculptures also selected for the one year program. Green Thumb is my second large scale sculpture that is not a commissioned piece. It is available for sale through the city for the duration of the program with a small percentage of the sale used to fund its permanent collection.

#13 Highland Park, IL show-“Rachel”, “Nude Study I”

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For the last few days I’ve been juggling 5 different projects at my studio and all of them with approaching deadlines. The most recent one is getting two of my 12×12 reliefs ready for shipping to a juried show in Illinois. This will be the first time I’ve exhibited my reliefs to the public so I’m excited to see if anything happens. “Rachel” and “Nude Study I” are plaster originals 12″x12″ that I will have for sale at the Illinois show November 4-December 22.

#12 relief sculptures

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In the last few weeks I have felt the urge to expand my portfolio to include reliefs. This came about after talking with someone in the cemetery business who was saying that the popular way to memorialize someone is laser etching, not the traditional sculpted relief which has been around since forever. Laser etching is a process that takes an existing photograph and etches in exact detail onto a black granite headstone. In my opinion, it is cheap and unattractive and very representative of technology that cannot replicate what the human hand achieves-beauty. As much sophistication as our technology is, it still fails to prove to me and many others that it is has the ability to match the human touch. Of course, it is incredibly popular and it seems that every headstone that has some design on it has a laser etched image of the deceased. The problem that I see is that every single headstone is starting to look the same. Black granite with a highly rendered image. The other stones are not being used because black granite allows for the necessary contrast between the polished black surface and the etched part which is much lighter. The other stones would produce little or no contrast so they are not being used. So in a sense all of these headstones are looking the same. What I am hoping for in the future is for people to start to recognize that traditionally carved monuments or bronze plaques that are hand sculpted become more appreciated as they provide more options than what our technology can currently produce. Lets say that someone wants a portrait, but not flat, but slightly raised. Perhaps they want it raised another one inch. Perhaps they want a high relief. These are options a highly trained artisan can create, not a machine. It means that someone can have black granite or white marble. It will mean more cemeteries will have unique headstones and statues made of bronze and stone and will be beautiful as they once were before technology made them all ugly and monotonous.

So for the last few weeks I have been spending some time doing reliefs. I have done, to date, 6 of them and I have been very excited at each of them. I’ve casted a few in plaster and polished. Here is the last one I did, it is 12″x12″ and shown in clay. It is actually not round, but square and I used photoshop to make it round so I’m not all against technology.

#11 Broomfield, CO Art for Awhile program and Green Thumb

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In a couple of weeks I’ll be placing my 4 1/2 foot tall garden gnome called “Green Thumb” with the city of Broomfield’s art for awhile program. It is a one year art on loan program that was started in 2009. Nine sculptors were selected to display their works for one year and this will be the first art on loan program I have been involved in. I’m very excited about the opportunity and feel fortunate to have been selected. The sculpture will go just outside of the newly completed library near an open field. I will put pics up as soon as it is installed.

#10 letting creativity flow

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You never know what people will like. When I was a few years younger and making art I had the idea that I had to do just one thing and be known for one style. So I consciously focused on one thing and when my mom would ask if I could do a portrait I would say no, it’s not my thing mom. Usually it ended with a -sheesh at the end. Mom taught me many many things which shaped my artistic goals and vision. To this day, I ask her about ideas and business and listen, sometimes wishing I hadn’t even asked. But her words have always rung true. 
It was earlier this year that I started seeing that I wanted to start working on larger projects. I wasn’t landing commissions so I figured I’ll just start making large sculptures that I feel like making, kind of a ‘what the f..k’ attitude. I decided to do whatever I felt like doing and this was sort of new to me. I was doing what I wanted in the past, but I think I was still limiting myself artistically. What naturally came out of my sometimes twisted and backwards mind was garden gnomes. I have not seen much of this done and I had been observing the artwork of one of my favorite illustrators of faeries and gnomes, Arthur Rackham. The gnomes, in particular, have fascinated me because of their mischievous personalities and the potential for storytelling. I own several of Rackham’s books that he illustrated and after studying his paintings I got the inspiration to sculpt some of these little creatures that he was painting. I didn’t blatantly copy his works directly, but took the essence of his gnomes and put it in clay. Rackham is a huge influence on the garden gnome series I started. The result was my first in the gnome series called “Green Thumb”. This little guy is a gardener. He is the gardener of little milk thistle weeds that make him smile and throw his arms into the air as if to say ‘success!’ To me he is saying more than that. I think of him as saying ‘success’ that I have branched out to try something entirely new. He is saying to my mom ‘see! See what just happened!’
Having recently embraced this attitude of expanding myself and in a sense planting seeds in many areas of the arts I have learned to let go and not care what others think. Art is about growing, not proving myself to others. 
Another example of this is in the movie “Yes Man” with Jim Carrey. Possibly one of his best movies. It is the story of a lonely man who lives a boring life until he experiences the life changing conference he attends that asks him to experience life saying yes to everything. He embraces life and life begins to change very rapidly for him and all for the better. He pretty much goes along with whatever is thown his way. This is the philosophy that I am trying to express. Going along with whatever it is that I feel like doing. 
A friend, fellow artist and inspiration to me is a wonderfully talented sculptor named Bets. Bets has also planted a few seeds in me about ideas that I am thrilled to even think about. For a long time I have wanted to do some kind of an art instructional book for artists. I have been kind of stuck with the idea and haven’t thought much about it until Bets told me I need to do a simple 20 page booklet on basic sculpting, one that I can simply print out on my own computer. She said if I were to teach a 1 week course what would I teach. This got my mind going like a semi truck racing down a steep hill out of control- holy c..p!!!! I also had the encouragement and support of another talented sculptor Pam. Pam said she would purchase it as soon as I finished it. And the both of them fed me ideas that have simply made my mind swell with inspiration. Now, I can’t say when I will get to this instructional booklet, but it is brewing in me and the inside of it is making more and more sense in my mind. 
I believe doing this book will also lead to another of my passions that I have really wanted to do for about 5 years, making an ecorche. It is a sculpture with the skin removed showing the superficial anatomy of the human form. I have worked from ecorches over the last 13 years, some good and some bad and would like to do one that I think artists need. I believe the ecorche and the instructional booklet will actually happen since embracing what mom had been trying to tell me for so many years ‘let go of yourself and do what feels right’. Thanks mom!