Wind Dreams Sculpture by Kanae Fukuhara

Next: Fire Bison

Wind Dreams Sculpture I am becoming a globe.
Pushing hard at the center, softly and carefully at the edges.
Little by little... but steadily and surely.

I am making a concave cavity as large as possible,
so that I will be very light.
The light could go through me when they want and I can feel it by my body.
How pleasant and joyful!

Now I am becoming a raindrop.
I am dancing and whirling.
I am so free... I am light... I am so happy.

I am high in the sky in the cloud.
I am a tiny water drop...
Oh! I am a part of the cloud...

Wind Dreams Sculpture Many friends sometimes ask me how I come up with an idea for my sculpture. There are a couple of ways of designing for me.

1. When I already have a stone, or I fall in love with some stone in the display of the vender (and it means I buy it!), I spend time with the stone. I try to be patient and listen to the voice of the stone. Or I could say, I try to connect with the hidden (or obvious!) beauty of the stone and searching for a fragment of an idea downloaded to me.

2. I relax myself and focus on my reservoir of creation. I start finding out or making a thing or a thought I want to express. I sketch roughly and eventually make a clay maquette. It could be rough or pretty accurate. Then I decide the size and kind of stone for it.

3. I play with some small amount of clay in my hands. Stretching, bending, winding, and eventually I come up with a shape I want to carve.

Wind Dreams Sculpture I bought this stone, because I wanted to carve something (!! it could be dangerous ..... as it means I have no idea, and I will be restricted by the shape and size of the stone) from white translucent alabaster, even though the shape of this stone was irregular and there were so much roughness on the surface. The stone kept silence like a stubborn old guy who doesn't want to open up his heart. I had to take time with patience and I tried to see a possible beauty by eliminating the rough parts which I don't feel relevant. Eventually it started giving me an idea about the direction.

I don't want to waste stone, and I feel I have a responsibility to make something as best as I can out from it. No decision can be reversed. It is an art of making decision and going-only-forward.

It turned out to be a simple and peaceful piece, which I couldn't imagine from the original stone. I decided to make an irregular shape base. Usually a base is round or square, or it could be the same shape as the bottom of the sculpture. I felt this piece needs something a little more free, which would support its freedom and light energy. Also it is sitting at off center of the base. I felt it is important that the base supports the direction of the end part of the piece. In the other words, this dreaming piece could remain as free without control from outside or rules.

My friend running a cramming school and giving his students unique education in Kyoto bought this piece. He said he feels something spiritual from the piece. Humm.... Well maybe it is a nice compliment as the piece is about wind, freedom, and happiness....