Sargasso Turtle Sculpture

Oddments - The Sculpture of Andrew Lonon: I shall here endeavor to explain the particulars of the craft of my art and provide such details as i may about my artistic process and inspiration. Essentially, I craft small relief sculptures in a similar manner to those precious bronze door panels from the Florentine  Renaissance. However, my work diverges from this tradition with some updated materials and a revised creative sensibility that draws on diverse inspirations.  Although I work with clay mined from beads deposited on the Appalachian coast of the Cretaceous Seaway, my creative endeavors are guided by such modern sensibilities as are a commonality within much of our vibrant creative culture.  Sculpture allows me to make clockwork creatures, impossible vignettes, and natural tributes and supernatural vistas. Each piece is a focused contrivance of imagination and expression. Such Elements of the Creative Endeavor: The nature of my artistic pursuits would seem to defy definition, but i think you will agree that, through such examples as will follow, that by providing specific details the general essence is revealed. My first interest, and indeed passion, was for history, specifically the history of the deeds and cultures of past ages.  Not for me the court cases and corporate mergers of American history, I was interested in the Etruscans, Kerma and such luminaries as Alexander and the Barca clan. Close on the heels of this first passion came the interest of fiction and fantasy as conveyed in books, movies and other art forms.  Fantasy from the likes  (and in the greater tradition) of such master as Tolkien, Adams and Heinlein allows a freer expression and also provides a greater range of sources to draw from. Further along in life, I realized the terrible splendor of nature, and this wonder became my third main inspiration. Not only am I humbled by everything from a budding Hellebore to a brewing Cumulonimbus, but I am also fascinated by our continued interaction with the natural world.   Last, both in sequence and indeed many years later, came some small appreciation and comprehension of  creative expression and representation in and of itself. Many of my pieces include an element or aspect which references the vehicle as much as the overt subject of the piece.  Indeed, it is this sensibility  that, to no small extent, solidifies the other elements and enhances the final expression  of the initial idea.