Inspiring work by Cory McCrory
Today’s post is from Cory McCrory, one of our ceramic artists, regarding her work and how she gets ideas for it. Tomorrow, I am meeting her halfway between Grand Haven and Sandwich, Illinois, where she lives, to pick up new work.
Cory: “Often i hear the question of where i get my ideas, here are stories of the circumstances behind each of my sculptures, and how i decide what shapes are go and what not.
my husband and most male members of my family are into motors. mostly race cars, European imports, and English motorcycles. i had done a car in the past and my husband began nagging me about doing a motorcycle. Since I, like most women like being told what to do, haha, i never did one. this went on for more than a year.
one morning i woke after my husband left for work. grabbed some coffee and headed to my studio. what welcomed me was too funny. there were several books open to certain types of motorcycles, tens of copies of photos taped around and right about my work space a print out of the lyrics of the richard thompson song, “52 vincent black lightning”.
i had to consider it. he did his homework, he found styles that i found artistically appealing. and he made it more personal with richard thompson, and the types of motorcycles. one was of the land speed drivers on the salt flats( i still may do that one some day). so i grabbed an old leather motorcycle jacket out of the closet and hung it in the studio along with all the other stuff and started sketching.
over the next few days i more or less interviewed friends and family as to what this richard thompson song meant to them, what type of sculpture they took away from it. most men saw a bike with the couple leaning against it in an embrace. my women friends whom i spoke with were a bit more jaded. we joked that molly just loved the motorcycle, or that she was riding to the ebay store to sell it. i began working on the sculpture before my decision was made, i got the bike itself finished (don’t look too closely because its missing a few parts) before i began its rider. molly started as a pair of black leather boots with straps and buckles up the length.the work stalled for a week. it took a long time for molly to arrive.kind of like cinderella, not just any gal could fill those boots.
eventually i was able to build this leather clad biker chick. her story is an impromptu midnight ride with james spirit along. i chose to do it this way to preserve some of the mystery of the song. i felt if i did both molly and james, that it would be telling to much. i have only given a snapshot of who red molly is. her eyes are still left unseen. a somewhat haunting feel to this sculpture was intentional. i get chills and am taken to a vivid movie every time i hear the song now.
molly went thru the circuit for a year with me, she hung out at center street clay for 6 months or so then back around with me for another show or two. i traded her to a wonderful cloud artist in st charles IL, jennifer gave me a painting, several portable stands for art fairs, and some cash. she got molly as a gift for her husband. i couldn’t have asked for a better home for red molly.”
