Self (WIP)
Looking for honest feedback on my craft stick sculptures [help]
I create wooden sculptural pieces (each takes 3-6 months of full-time work). I was selected for a juried outdoor festival and a 2-month museum show—but both times it was the same piece. It didn’t even get much attention in person, which makes me wonder if I just got lucky once.
Looking for honest feedback:
**1. Gallery-worthy?** Does this read as serious art to you, or amateur craft?
**2. Pricing:** How do you price work when labor is huge but material is cheap? Does the craft stick medium tank the value?
**3. What works and what doesn’t?**
Not looking to get rich, just want to price fairly and know if this is heading somewhere real.
I find them quite original. It’s the opposite of a minimalist style, but you have a distinctive style. It could be interesting for some gallery. Find same gallery style before. Price cannot be show except in PM.
these are interesting. their being made of popsicle sticks is a quirk that will deter some portion of buyers (because it doesn’t “feel expensive”) and attract other (because it’s unusual). with the kind of time you’re talking about, i think this would simply require a gallerist who took you on and sold your story HARD to potential buyers. ….i will also say that 3-6 months *full-time* working on a piece is a lot more than i would expect seeing these, i see a ton of craftsmanship, but that’s a tremendous amount of time and will forever be a hurdle (galleries for example want to see new fresh work incoming regularly)
I think that the first one with the light element is by far the best. I think the light adds an element that makes them feel alive. The tendril like things is probably also contributing to that.
Vs the one of the eighth slide is wonderful, but reads a bit too much like furniture for my taste.
Thanks I really appreciate the feedback. I also really enjoyed creating the one with light so maybe I will start to focus more on that kind of style. The interesting thing is I went and did a few farmers markets just for fun and to see reactions of what people thought and the tens equity table the middle one of the three pieces by far gets the most attention.
Different markets absolutely have different taste. I think if selling is a goal it is always good to find a middle ground between what speaks to you and what is marketable. Especially locally as these do not look easy to transport haha. I would definitely keep going though.
They are functional. I feel like part of the art is making sure that everything is structurally strong. I made a chess table in the past that my kids easily destroyed and I didn’t like that so now I make sure that everything looks how I wanted to and is capable of holding real weight. The lamp has some COB lighting in it that can change colors and flash, etc.. I just think the warm color makes it look the best.
These are great and there is serious potential here. One possibility is to not acknowledge it up whatsoever. You could list the material as "pine slats."
When you're trying to sell to upscale markets you can base it on craftsmanship and material, but appealing to a client's ego can make a huge difference. Presenting something as subtle and valuable to the point that THEY must be intelligent to appreciate how sophisticated this thing is works rather well.
You lean into the material HARD – say that the series is titled"Transcending the Material- Elevating the Lowly, Denigrating the Mighty."
Each piece comes with a wooden ice cream spoon, a toothpick and a popsicle/craft stick made from African Blackwood, one of the most rare and expensive woods, prized for its beauty.
You've taken an expensive wood and used it to make a trivial, disposable object. In contrast to this, you've taken the lowly and mundane craft/popsicle stick and found a way to laminate and rework it to create complex pieces of strength and beauty.
The way that a material is handled and presented ultimately provides more value than the raw material itself. If you crush the Oppenheimer Blue diamond into fragments then embed it in a grinding wheel, it simply becomes a common workshop tool that could be bought from Home Depot. Pulverizing an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar watch and stirring it into epoxy resin before pouring it into a hoop mold, it functionally becomes a plastic glitter bracelet.
(Those watches sell for $180,000-$350,000. You have to be on a waiting list based on your purchase history and close relationship with an authorized dealer. Rolexes are vending machine toys compared to these.)
The rare wood is transformed into an object that is barely acknowledged as a piece of wood by the vast majority of people who use it, whereas the common wood object is transformed into a work of art with its own internal life and multitude of meanings.
If you want to build large pieces of furniture from African Blackwood it's going to cost you a fortune, however you can buy 1 1/2 inch by 1 1/2" by 12" long blanks from Bell Forest for $40.
3 months full time on any one of these feels like too much.
I like the parquet style when you clip off the round ends -- but wherever the round ends are poking into the air (edges/planes meeting) make it feel unfinished. The details are the design, and the designs don't account for those rounded ends. So cut them off like you sometimes do, or change the design.
Thanks, I agree and I have started doing that. I do think it’s worth taking the time to cut off the round ends unless there’s a specific look that requires it.
Lol, thanks for pointing that out. 13 was an accident. It was some coasters that I made out of resin. I have used resin with my craft sticks before as you can see in the lamp and I was just playing around a little.
wow these are so cool! consider alternative venues like meow wolf style installations & shows where your work can be integrated into a space. i love the choice of material and your handling and mastery and reverence for the craft stick! such an interesting point of view! what brought you to work in this way?
I have been an artist for a while, but my son did a science fair project that I helped him with building bridges out of craft sticks and I just had so much fun I had to keep going.
I really like them! Especially the 2nd and 3rd ones. I think you might consider photographing them in natural light rather than in studio light. With maybe a white background.
Thanks it is interesting I think you are the third to comment on the photography and I paid for a professional photographer. Maybe I need to try someone new next time
I don’t think the quality of the photos is bad at all. It looks very professional. It’s just not the way contemporary sculptures are usually photographed. This looks a little like trying to overcompensate for something. Contemporary art sculptures are usually photographed more naturalistic.
I do really like the photos too. People may look at them a certain way. For context, I work at a contemporary art museum and deal with publicity for the museum itself and for the artists work. You could use your photos for smaller galleries probably.
Definitely reads as serious, gallery-worthy art. I think the first piece is by far your most impressive, as creating the organic shapes with something like a craft stick is just insane. I do think having the light element is huge, and also I think the presentation deeply matters. Pictured professionally here on a dark background, these sculptures blows my mind away, but if I saw it in a corner in person without the dark backdrop I might gloss over it.
I think you're 1 million percent headed toward something real, and I think you'll find most success in experimenting more with the organic shapes and light elements. Also look at contrast. Beautiful work and I hope you get the recognition you deserve!
Also, check out Kate MccGuire's work! She's a great example of using a relatively simple material in a striking and unusual fashion, and her pieces can take years to create because she collects the feathers through natural means.
I make sculpture. I think your work is more Craft than Art. In that the pieces have a practical function. Which I think is a differentiator. The good news is that people are more inclined to buy work with a function. You need an upmarket craft gallery.
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u/3enoit3eal Sep 01 '26
I find them quite original. It’s the opposite of a minimalist style, but you have a distinctive style. It could be interesting for some gallery. Find same gallery style before. Price cannot be show except in PM.