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Sarah Kaufmann is one of only three people in the United States who make their living carving cheese. That's right, the "Cheese Lady" is a professional cheese sculptor.
Why cheese? NPR Blog The Salt explains:
LinkMichelangelo used marble. Sarah Kaufmann uses cheese.
What drew this sculptor to her material? A strong affinity for tangy cheddar or the fact that she hails from the proudest cheese state in the nation, Wisconsin?
No, as Kaufmann tells The Salt, "The cheese found me."
What's more, she says, "it's much more delightful than working with wood or stone. You can snack while you work."
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt was labelled mad in his own century and by the time he died in 1783 he had produced sixty four remarkable busts of himself which reflected his state of mind and his attempt to alleviate his perplexing ailments. They still manage to look more contemporary than a lot of twenty first century art – perhaps madness can be liberating after all.
His situation came to a head in 1774 when he applied for the position of leading professor at the Academy (where he had been a teacher since the late 1760s). Far from getting the promotion he expected and desired he was barred from teaching altogether. The Chancellor of State, Count Kaunitz felt compelled to write a letter to the Empress explaining why this had happened. Messerschmidt’s state of mind was referred to as a ‘confusion in the head’ in this letter.
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Heather Jansch creates absolutely amazing (and surprisingly lifelike) sculptures of horses using driftwood.
Equally amazing is the story of how she found her own style in the art world:
I went on to the now famous Goldsmiths College in London where sadly, at the time, figurative work was unfashionable. There was a life room, and models too, but no tutors ventured near. They liked and encouraged (typically) 6ft square green canvases with triangles and circles in bold clashing colours and sculptures using planks and blocks of polystyrene.
At the end of the first year I was asked to leave the course. I was told that I did not have the stuff that painters were made from and, if lucky, I might scrape a place somewhere to do graphics. My confidence was shattered. I was not interested in graphics. I liked the country, painting and constructing things from what lay around.
But that was then, and I went on to achieve my dream by virtue of fate, the generosity of others, luck and determination. I went my own way, not always wisely and not always to accolade from the establishment.
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