For forty-five years I have been making sculpture (in series) and keeping an occasional journal. Reading over my current journal of the past several years I was surprised to see how often I have been stuck! As any artist will tell you, this is not an uncommon condition. At some point in 2018 I decided to commit myself to a series of twenty pieces, called 20 Walks. This way I figured I would not be truly stuck until I had finished all twenty. It turns out I was right about that, but I came to the end of the series in April 2024. Now what? After more than five years, I found that I was stuck once again.
Lin Lisberger, 20 Walks—Columbia River Gorge, fruit woods, paint, graphite drawing, 33 x 54 x 11 in., 2019 (photo: Luc Demers).
Lin Lisberger, Bridge to a New Me—Tightrope, Apple, cherry, 35 x 55 x 8 in., 2010 (photo: Luc Demers).
Lin Lisberger, 20 Walks—Columbia River Gorge 1, fruit woods, poplar, paint, gold leaf, 50 x 54 x 11 in., 2019 (photo: Luc Demers).
One of my approaches has been to make some things that are fun but not content laden, like a sculpture of a knotted rope that a friend commissioned and shelves for home, to clean a lot of junk out of the studio, and eventually to make some small explorations with wood and clay. I also draw—either drawings of objects in my studio, drawings of sculptures that are leaving the studio, drawings on prints, or the tried-and-true challenge of drawing with my non-dominant hand. Sometimes all of the above at once.
Lin Lisberger, Torn/Mended, 20 x 16 in., woodblock print, graphite, thread, 2024 (photo: Lin Lisberger).
Lin Lisberger, Overhand Knot (Right Hand Drawing), graphite on paper, 8 x 10 in., 2022 (photo: Lin Lisberger).
Lin Lisberger, 20 Walks—Backstage at the Circus (with shadow), cherry, poplar, plywood, paint, laces, ribbon, 7 x 56 x 57 in., 2022 (photo: Luc Demers).
Lin Lisberger, 20 Walks—Backstage at the Circus, cherry, poplar, paint, laces, ribbon, 7 in. x variable, 2022 (photo: Luc Demers).
I also get stuck on individual pieces—not only how they meet the world, but how they hold together visually. This is the case with 20 Walks—Columbia River Gorge that changed more than once as I worked on it. It started out as a very different piece nine years earlier. And 20 Walks—Backstage at the Circus lost its “shadow” of a banjo player in favor of more ambiguity.
Lin Lisberger, 20 Walks—COVID Postcards, assorted hardwoods, colored pencil, hemp cord, chair, 35 x 26 x 26 in., 2020 (photo: Luc Demers).
Lin Lisberger, White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field, poplar, chestnut, bones, paint, 4 x 27 x 28 in., 2018 (photo: Luc Demers).
Lin Lisberger, They Have Stood Round My Sleep, cherry, apple, ash, wire, 32 x 24 x 15 in., 2018 (photo: Luc Demers).
Sometimes I find that I am not stuck from my way but am stuck in my ways. It is easy to fall back on comfortable techniques and approaches, even ones that take much more time and seem to deaden a piece. I need an angel on my shoulder reminding me to stop, and pushing me to find the edginess in the sculpture (sometimes this does not mean “stop,” but go further and further into the depths). To do this is frighteningly difficult and sometimes means that I drastically change what tools I am using or what I am trying to say. This, of course, is the dilemma of most artists and what probably keeps us making art!
So far this time around, I remain unsure. I wouldn’t call it stuck, just lost—a different condition and one more terrifying and exciting.
Lin Lisberger, 20 Walks—Shopping Cart, Assorted hardwoods, 43 x 24 x 40 in., 2024 (photo by Luc Demers).