Sterett's Alphabet

Sterett-Gittings Kelsey has just sent me the attached collection of what she calls "legos" -- i.e. those connectible toys that are so popular with the pre-school crowd -- but which I consider more like the characters of an incomprehensible alphabet (i.e. -- another Asian alphabet as far as I'm concerned)









Like emperor Hui-tsung, her characters are graceful , but like Huang T'ing-chien they are also grounded -- i.e. these girls have big strong legs !





.... and it's often their tutus that make them feel airbourne


Look at that broken right arm -- you see, it's broken just where it should be -- not as an arm, but as an expression of energy --which is why I call her figures calligraphic



Somewhere -- sometime -- some wise collector is going to want to have the entire set


so they can be used to write poems about mountains, mists, and lonely evenings far from home



.. but in the meantime, we can just enjoy them here.










.. and just like the wise Huang T'ing-chien, do you see how Sterett designs the empty space around the figures ?

I'm starting to feel like a salesman here -- but Sterett's always complaining to me how difficult it is for a non-commission, un-contemporary, figure sculptor to make a living (even though I think she's one of the handful over the past 30 years who has)






.... so I don't mind doing my little bit to help her out.