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Reprinted courtesy Western Art Collector
November 2007
John Coleman isn’t nearly as interested
in the technical aspects of sculpting
as he is in telling a story that makes
collectors sit up and take notice.
John Coleman is a sculptor on a mission. He wants
someone looking at his work to have the same emotion
he had when he first heard the story that inspired the
sculpture.
Coleman explains, “The philosophical part of what I do is
always consistent. I already know how to create a sculpture.
The next step is the abstract idea. I try to inject some sort
of mood and emotion in my work. It goes back to putting a
physical face on a spiritual idea. That’s the difference between
real art and a decorative object. We respond to things, like
sculpture there are curves and straight lines. Curves are
feminine and straight lines are masculine. That’s the abstract
design behind the work. I would hope that people will feel the
emotion that I’m feeling when I’m creating this stuff. I’m using
these as tools as a way to create that dialogue.”
Coleman has given a lot of thought about how to make
his sculptures relatable. “The overriding compliment I get
from collectors is that they can feel the life in my work. The
idea that the work has life in it means that it’s not a replica
of life. When a sculptor is creating the human form, he has to
re-invent it, not just copy it. It’s not what you put in, it’s what
you leave out. It’s about eloquence, saying the most important
thing you have to say in the simplest way, and saying it in
a way that people can relate to it. There’s an empathy thing
that happens. The odyssey in art is pulling these things from
someplace.”
For Coleman, that someplace comes from deep inside.“Some people meditate or pray everyday. You’re trying to
get back to where you come from, which is infinite. But then
there’s always the risk that you’re going to hit a sour note.
You’re making an attempt to be eloquent and you take a risk
and it falls apart. You’re never quite sure. That’s what allows
you to take the risk to create something that’s truly profound
instead of rehashing your successes over and over again.”
Coleman continues, “The first time somebody mentioned
that I had a style that was the best compliment I ever got.
When you have a recognizable style it’s because it’s coming
from inside. It’s because you’re creating something original.
We all have our place that we’ve been. Without too much
analysis, our work comes from that place. That’s one of the
things I hope people feel when they come to the show. That
they’re going to see something new and fresh, and that it
comes from me and is in my style.”
So where does Coleman find his inspiration? “When I first
started really getting serious about sculpting, my interest was
in mythology, it always has been. The Native culture has such
a strong influence in this country that I started seeing that as
something sustainable.”
Coleman has created six brand new works that will debut
at the Cowboy Artists of America Show at the end of October.
Coleman says, “The CAA Show is the most unique show in
the country. I hold six months of my work for the CAA Show. I
can’t show it to anybody. It’s a great thing to be able to bring it
all into the room like that. It’s exciting.”
Top Left: The Guardian, bronze, 28" x 22" x 12". Top Middle: Little Pueblo Girl, bronze 17" x 10" x 7.5". Right: Calling the Fathers, bronze, 8'6" x 34" x 46". Lower Left: Winds of Change, bronze, 25" x 7" x 7". Lower Middle: Mandan Warrior, bronze, 19" x 12" x 7"
The artist says, “With the help of a ceremonial fire and
its smoke to carry his prayers, a Sioux man on a vision
quest plays his drum and prays for guidance from his
emerging ancestors. I have framed this piece with two
symbols: the mortal and the spirit. The buffalo skull at
his feet represents his life on earth: his body came from
the earth and there it will return. The eagle represents
his spirit and all that is infinite.”
Coleman is particularly excited about a monumental piece
that was just coming back from the foundry at press time.“The monumental piece is called Calling the Fathers. It’s a man
chanting, playing a drum and at his feet is a ceremonial fire.
Below the fire, because he’s standing on a terrace, is a buffalo
skull. In this particular case the buffalo skull represents the
earth and where everything comes from. As the smoke starts
to waft over his head, his ancestors start to emerge from the
smoke. At the very top of the piece is an eagle. The buffalo
skull represents the mortality, everything that comes from
the earth goes back to the earth, and the eagle represents
infinity, or immortality. Again, that kind of typifies what interests me in the Native American culture. The metaphor,
the idea of giving a physical face to a spiritual idea, is what
has always appealed to me. As a sculptor, I’ve used the smoke
a lot because the smoke is a way of carrying the prayers to the
Great Spirit.”
For another one of his new sculptures, Coleman found his
inspiration in the granddaughter of one of his sculptor friends. “Every year it’s been a tradition for me to do a sculpture of
a little girl. I don’t like to repeat myself. I’m adamant about
not using the same face more than once unless it happens
to be the same character. Oreland Joe’s granddaughter was
the inspiration for this one. I did her portrait, and put it in a
context. That’s the design element. I did a Pueblo girl. She has
a shawl over her head, so there are no feathers involved. The
child was so beautiful I didn’t want anything distracting from
that, so I kept it fairly simple.”
Many of Coleman’s sculptures build on ideas he’s worked
with previously. Such is the case with one of his most recent
creations. “I’ve done a companion piece to a piece I introduced
last year. The Greeter was based on my interpretation of what
Black Moccasin might have looked like when he met Lewis &
Clark. He was over 100 years old when he was painted, so I
backed it up so that he was around seventy, and everything
that he was wearing is based on what a Hidatsa Chief might
have been wearing at the turn of the century. For the new
piece, I ran across a painting of Black Moccasin’s son. I created
a man who would be just about the right age to be Black
Moccasin’s son. He’s got a gun, a shield, and a quiver with bow
and arrows. He’s created in the same way as The Greeter. He’s
a bust called The Guardian.”
Coleman sums up his aspirations this way. “You try to
distinguish yourself whether you’re creating something with
more substance, or something just to decorate. You hope that
that makes it a little nobler of a cause. This is a business, but
it’s a calling as well. We’re all trying to get to a certain spot
where you earn the respect of the collectors and your peers.
It’s really up to them to determine whether or not you achieve
what you set out to do. If I had a goal, I’d like to think that I
could earn the respect of someone like Howard Terpning by
the time I’m his age.”
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