If you build it, they will come … to build.
Artist Craig Tandy launched an art studio last fall, transforming a warehouse space on Woodmere Avenue into a den of creativity where students can learn all facets of sculpture. From design and modeling to planning, building and finishing, students use a range of hand tools to craft small three-dimensional works while absorbing the basics of aesthetics as they go. Tandy also emphasizes the history of the form, modern trends and the processes involved in creation.
Working on individual projects as well as class endeavors, students master tools and basic engineering concepts, nurture their creative vision and achieve a sense of accomplishment. An art show a few weeks ago showcasing their work since the beginning of the school year drew family and friends and gave students a sense of accomplishment.
"We each have our own projects with certain materials,” said Mikaela Piche, 11, a sixth grade homeschool student. "It takes a lot of thinking, you can't just say, 'OK, I'm going to make this now,' you kind of have to be in the quiet.”
"You realize what you can do with very few things, like what you can make with pop rivets,” Piche added.
A twice-weekly class of homeschool students meets Monday and Wednesday afternoons to create sculptures out of a variety of media. Students have completed works in wood and are now working through projects in acrylic and aluminum. Tandy, who taught art for 18 years at a private school in California, also has afternoon classes for school children as well as a Saturday morning offering.
He sets the parameters for a sculpture, teaches the tools needed to work with the chosen medium and then turns the students loose to create on a tangent of their own.
"This is what we do in here, we let the imagination go,” said Tandy, who also works as a finish carpenter in the area. "We have inventive creativity here.”
Always stressing safety, Tandy trains students to use equipment including a buffer, scroll saw, disc sander and band saw as well many electric and non-electric hand tools. His studio also has a radial arm saw and a table saw but students are not yet allowed to use them. He directly supervises younger children during electric tool each use and keeps an eye on older ones, but overall encourages students to gain confidence to work on their own.
"I'm pretty graphic about what they can do to themselves,” said Tandy. "You just teach them respect for the tools. A nice byproduct is that whether or not they go on to be artists, they become capable people — I think it's really wonderful, they'll always be able to fix things.”
Michaela Scott, 10, worked Monday afternoon on sketching out her acrylic sculpture of a hand holding an oversized snowflake. Struggling to get the representation of a piece mostly done just right on graph paper, she reflected on the wood sculpture she had already completed.
"I do like the wood a lot because it's living, it's real,” she said, adding about the creative process: "To do this you have to look at things in a different way.”
An accomplished artist with his works in collections around the country, Tandy finds sculpture an excellent medium for both teaching and sparking creativity in kids. He terms it an amalgamation of many skills, such as drawing, physics, geometry, math and music. Even young children naturally sculpt when they pile sticks together to make a shape, for example.
"I think people think in three dimensions more than you think, especially young people,” he said. "As you get older it's almost like you flatten out.”
For more information on the Craig Tandy Art Studio or the courses offered, see his Web site at www.craigtandy.com or call 883-9092.