Bedford Studios / Cape Breton Bronze

Welcome to my art site and I hope this is not your only visit. Please come back to see the changes as my artworks change over time. Check out  the newsletter.And leave me your views with an email. Come in and browse awhile with the “simply for fun” items or stay and contemplate the more serious side of my work.

I believe that art in any form is not complete until it has been staged and viewed by an audience. Their performance in viewing the work completes the process by the artist, but that process continues forever as long as the work stands. So join me in completing my art by chuckling with some of my fine craft work or commenting on my passionate pieces or enjoying the educational side with a visit illustrating the medium process. Then send me your views as I would like to provide the best sets for my staged art so that the viewer gets the most visual enjoyment from this unique artwork. 

Sit back, relax and enjoy your visit.

Carolyn  

Carolyn Ritchie Bedford: Heroes of Daily Life on Cape Breton By Tila Kellman

GAPACC NEWS May 2005

Hidden away in one of the industrial corners of Cape Breton, Carolyn Ritchie Bedford isolates heroic moments in the daily life of people around her in Port Hawkesbury, and returns them to the community in public work as well as pieces destined for private collectors. Pieces from her practice were shown in May 2004 at the StFX University Art Gallery and at the new Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre in February 2005. Carolyn’s installation for the Civic Centre consisted of a wall of copper with water falling over it. Four life-sized busts of a family with two children watch the water that falls over the wall. The piece generates the impression that the viewers are part of the sculpture, which leads to questions about how we come to know things; through art work or reading, or through the phenomena themselves? What does that say about your self, and how you come to know it and test it? Carolyn questions how a community values its residents. Does it see them as its most valuable resource? Her exhibition at the Civic Centre was a 30-year retrospective of her favourite pieces that included a display on her processes of making sculpture. Completely fearless when it comes to media, Carolyn currently spends most of her time casting bronze- in her back-yard foundry, yet! Carolyn’s StFX exhibition, Out of Context, focused mainly on her large, painterly pieces. Two of these are particularly reminiscent of the famous photographic practices of Ian Wallace and Jeff Wall in Vancouver, who compare moments of daily modernity to Classical Greek sculpture and Neo-classical painting. Bedford’s Unplugged , an acrylic painting of two young girls sitting on the floor totally afloat in the music from their boom box and surrounded by posters of teen idols, makes all viewers wonder how much longer the values of Western classicism will hold up in the new future , and continue to act as a social glue.

"Duo Artist Exhibition -Comfort & Connection" - Carolyn Bedford's clay figures with Irene Boudreau's macro large format photos - Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design ,Sydney , Nova Scotia (May 15-June 3) and J. Franklin Wright Gallery, Nova Scotia(month of September) "Coming This Summer to This Site Near You "- more bronze sculpture- return to see new bronze work posted.

The Chain Effect of an Exhibit Idea - Construction Process-Step 2

Carolyn Ritchie Bedford and The Comfort & Connection Exhibit

 To capture the drawing lines and transfer them to the three dimension, I employed a method of mold making that I have used often for the clay. Rather than build the clay up from a block and then have to clean it out to a thin slice, I made the slice first. I rolled out my clay and made a thin slab. Previously I had made a shape from newspapers forming the same silhouette as the drawings. Using masking tape to hold them tightly within the form, I then wrapped them in saran wrap. This keeps the clay from sticking to the paper. As you can imagine I have gone through much plastic wrap and masking tape. The newspapers are being reused before recycling. They are light and easy to manage if not a little dirty, but then so is doing all forms of artwork.

I then lay out my paper forms and rolling up the slab of clay, I begin to place it over the form slowly maneuvering the clay to the shaping I see in the drawing. This takes a little forethought because you must know where you will need extra clay for heights and depths in the shape. I must also take care not to stretch the slab as it will rip .After it is placed over the shape, the silhouette should look something like the drawing. Now I can begin to sculpt some areas and reposition small parts of the clay slab. On the whole though, whatever blanket form it will take, that is what the artwork has demanded and I like the material to work for itself, rather than fight with it.

Although he majority of the piece will maintain the thin slab form, I do add clay to sculpt the faces or hands of the figures. In this method, I found that the blanket shape will remain highlighted and true to the exhibit idea. It prevents me from overworking the sculpting and getting too involved with the technical side of the art. 

Once I am satisfied with the sculpting I allow the piece to dry to leather hard condition. Just before leather hard, I will remove the paper mold. Meanwhile I have rolled another thin slab which will be the base for the artwork.  Now the piece can continue to dry and be prepared for the firing.

answer to “What Is This?”    The paper molds used for the slabs of clay.