I have always loved doing things with my hands and sculpture was the next natural extension of that love. There is an indescribable feeling when my hands are molding what my mind is visualizing. Weather sculpting from a live model or a wall of photos no completed piece ever looks like the reference. It’s all imagination. The turn of a head, the twist of a foot or hand, a funny moment, the connection between two, the independence of one, moments in time. Hoping people will see what I see or feel what I feel, that is my goal.

While I am sculpting I am continually changing the light source on my work, not the model. I work in a medium that is both forgiving and demanding. Forgiving in its ability to allow me to run planes together differently than nature created which in turn allows me to emphasize an emotion or movement. Demanding in the work necessary to finish it so that it is compelling and requiring a touch. Viewers of my work are constantly asking if it is all right to “touch”.

“Absolutely”, I say. They smile, they touch, they see.

I have succeeded.
Bob Kelly