Tracy Courtney
The Uncarved Block
The Uncarved Block
- instead of making something, we find it & turn it into a work of art
- superb art is a work of nature, it's not imposed on nature; this takes a tremendous amount of pruning
- the object is always; through the discipline of the art
- make the garden look more natural than it would if we left it to itself
- work on nature with the skill & craft but move with nature in the direction it is already going
- the uncarved block is extended into a sculpture
- to make the block uncarved, even when the sculpture is finished, the sculptor first asks the block what it wants to become
- this is the gentle way of going along with nature
- to act as though our feelings aren't separate from nature
- this process seems passive & as though we really aren't doing anything but it's a sophisticated form of primitivity/controlled accident, where we're moving with nature; we're not running life by making it all logical & controlled order
- to have (logic and control) order, there has to be randomness, or order can't exist