Evolution of a Sculpture
Norman Gardner has always taken inspiration from the world around him, both the real and the literary worlds. His designs have come from his love of curves and emotions--the sensual lines of a woman, as well as the sensitivity of a Don Quixote. His sculptures depict human forms, animals, mythological creatures, literary figures, action figures (well, a matador) and birds. While Gardner uses abstraction to almost simplify reality, he is not enamored of abstraction for abstraction's sake. He prefers his sculptures to amplify and invigorate our world to us, not defy it.
Gardner generally works from a sketch as the first step in defining the important lines that will bring his scupture its strength and balance. But he has also been known to merely start to cut random shapes from cardboard wildly, and then to see which of those appeals to him and suggests the image that he is seeking. When he has arrived at the point of knowing approximately what he wants to do, he will create a sturdy cardboard model, that will serve to provide either the planes or the forms from which the full-scale model can be made. He will work each design on a small scale at first, enabling him to work quickly and easily. Ultimately, he will enlarge his model to the full size desired for the final piece, while making refinements and improvements, and this full-scale model will be what he utilizes for the fabrication process.
