Artist Spotlight: Mel Sundby
“Toughen yourself to the thought that an opinion is not a personal attack, especially if you don’t agree. Mull it over and put it in your brain’s memory file. At the present you may misinterpret the meaning or intent, but as life teaches you tolerance to other opinions and ideas, that idea or opinion may surface again, only to become your own. It is called growth. ”
Sculptor, painter, teacher and arts advocate Mel Sundby has been creating art for over 50 years. In all that time, he’s learned more than a few lessons on taking criticism, listening to others, and the value of staring out your favorite window. He is the co-owner of Manyfires Art Studio and Farm and practices his art daily. Read on for more on Mel and his story.
1. Tell us a bit about your “art origin story”? When did you first fall in love with your art?
I have always been a humanitarian. Even as a child I would cry when my grandfather would cut down a tree. My father was a gentle soul, it was my mother who carried the “fire”. Neither was an artist by their own admission. My dad knew and studied the classics, but it was my mom who knew how to do things. She was very inventive. She had survival skills. I learned from both of them. I was a lucky kid. I knew I was loved and I was always curious.
My grandfather gave me my first real job. He and my uncle were tearing down an old house and like most country folks at that time, they were saving the wood and nails. It was my job to pull the nails out of the old boards and lathe. He gave me my own hammer with my name on it. I was seven years old.
I had not had real art training until I was a sophomore in college, other than making home made valentine’s on the kitchen table. At college I took the mandatory art appreciation class and for the first time was exposed to the world of the visual arts. After that, I began by exploring some of the studio art classes. I think woodcut printing was the first method of creating an image. The idea to create an image was a matter of choice and learning the skill of wood carving and reverse imaging was difficult at first. After that it was fun and easy. I kept a folio of prints in the trunk of my car and from then on they became a trading commodity. When I found that some people were willing to pay for them. I was hooked! It was found money!
2. What role have teachers played in your development as an artist? Any one stand out?
I had a lot of good teachers in my career but only a few stand out as mentors who influenced my thinking.
I think one of the best lessons I had was as an undergraduate in a painting class. We were instructed to use all of our colors on an abstract work with no subject that was recognizable. I had a large canvas and was slashing away with a large brush. Eventually the surface began to look like a rough landscape with a waterfall. As I progressed with the work the subject became more recognizable. I felt a tap on my shoulder and the instructor asked me to come to the other end of the studio with him. He handed me a small pair of binoculars and told me to look at the painting through the large end of the lens. I did so and he asked me to tell him what I saw. A very small painting! He pointed out how the shapes and the colors in the composition all blurred into an image of its own. The colors and lines blurred because it was too small to see the details. He asked me to go over and turn it upside down. It was a completely different painting. He said “now go work on it that way for a while”. It took me several weeks to sort that out but when I did I realized that the “subject” is the painting itself. After that I realized that, everything else aside, craftsmanship became an important part of the work. After the artist is gone, the work has to stand on its own. Foster Marlow will never know how far his influence has gone.
credit: David Hoekman
3. What advice would you give to young folks thinking about pursuing an education or career in the arts?
Be curious!! Learn the answers to why! How! What! It has been said that 80% of everything we learn in our life comes through our eyes. That may be an exaggeration but the percentage is the largest.
We as humans have five physical senses:" sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Perhaps empathy can be counted as a sixth? The why, how, what, questions will always be the artist’s dilemma . I think that goes for all of the arts. What are we trying to communicate? A feeling, a fact, a smell, a sound, an idea? Most people who have never asked those questions of themselves, about their existence or their relationship to humanity, miss a lot of the “life experience”. Look in the nursing homes: those who have a craft or hobby are more happy and tend to live more wholesome and longer lives.
Toughen yourself to the thought that an opinion is not a personal attack, especially if you don’t agree. Mull it over and put it in your brain’s memory file. At the present you may misinterpret the meaning or intent, but as life teaches you tolerance to other opinions and ideas, that idea or opinion may surface again, only to become your own. It is called growth. It takes time. It takes nutrition. It takes coddling. It takes objectivity. All of it takes patience.
As your life unfolds, let yourself remember it. Let your thinking grow. Experience is something only an old artist has.
4. Describe how you use art and creativity in your craft as well as your everyday life.
At this time in my life (third act) my brain is full of questions. My wife of 29 years still wonders at the time I spend in the morning looking out of my favorite window. I can assure you that I am thinking! Sometimes it is about things that I have done, people I have known and possibilities. My favorite subject in the early morning is to see the shapes and lighting in the trees and leaves and branch formations. If one looks intently and long enough one begins to see shapes of birds, horses, faces and all manner of images. Seasonal light and why it changes daily. The shadows and light moves to add to the intrigue. No leaves in winter. Just white, gray blue shades of illumination. The hard dark lines of trees and their branches. In summer the gold rays of fading sunlight flickering between the branches against the ground cover. All of these observations are files in some convenient place in my memory bank to be retrieved when I am working on a painting. Each time one takes the time to “see” the subject repeated, concentrate on the details and combine them with the last time you “saw them”. It is like signing your autograph. Second nature. It all goes in the bank.
5. How can art make the world a better place? Can you share a personal example?
All of the arts are based in one’s senses. Pay attention to the details.
If art is equated with beauty, most people would think of something visual i.e. a painting, a sculpture, a building, a symphony.
During the “dark ages” 600-1400 after the fall of the Rome, the churches commissioned visual artists to paint the interiors of the buildings with pictures of Bible stories, scripture, values and beliefs and historical feats. Most people could not read, so the paintings conveyed the stories visually. That was a manner of communication.
Beauty in sound can differ. Music conveys ideas through sound. Taste and smell, by air. Fresh bread, flowers. It relates memory by smell and taste as a memory triggered to your nose and tongue. Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” some say is the most beautiful piece of music ever written.
Values differ. Most of it is related to the customs learned in early life. If you don’t like an idea, a sound, a taste, think on it. Run it though your values. Your opinion is valuable. However, if your mind is closed on any of these senses, figure out why, what, when and change your mind. Have a dialogue with yourself. Examine an alternative.
Those who keep their mind closed…...miss a lot in life!