Tai Chi sketches

snake creeps down


One afternoon, after throwing some stoneware bowls, I was playing with some leftover clay and started making these little sketches of some common Tai Chi poses. 

 These were made quickly, mostly in one sitting. 

Here is what I found intriguing about making these:  Figure modeling, even as loose-sketchy as these, would be normally done with visual references- a live model, a photo, a drawing. Here, I had no visual reference. What I did have was an internal "body knowledge" of the poses, based on years of practicing these movements. It felt like I was making these little figures from the inside out. If my aim had been to make more finished or resolved pieces, I would have collected images from books, internet, etc to make the figures accurate. The aimless, playful looseness of these freed me from visual accuracy so I could make these more intuitively. The result were these humble, sometimes silly, sketches, but I think they do have a certain appealing energy.

  


Click the images below to enlarge


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