((PKG)) SCULPTOR
((TRT: 07:43))
((Topic Banner: Carving Art out of Wood))
((/Produce/Camera/Editor: Jeff Swicord))
((Map: Washington D.C.))
((Main characters: 1 female; 0 male))
((Sub characters: 0 female; 1 male))
((Blurb: Margery Goldberg Is a wood sculptor and gallery owner in Washington D.C. who has been heavily involved in the city’s arts community for decades. She also runs a non-profit to teach DC residence woodworking skills.))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
My first sculpture class was in Rochester, New York, when I was ten years old. It was at that moment that I knew who I was and what I was going to do.
((MUSIC/NATS))
Art is…it’s kind of an expression of your soul, of your experiences. And I had been taking years of dance class before then from the age of four. So, I really love dance, and I really love sculpture. You know, I mean what is sculpture but dance, you know, in a moment in time.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Courtesy: AP Photos))
When I came to Washington and GW [George Washington University], and it was really the revolution years, [19]68 to [19]72. I have always been a truth to power person. I have never been afraid to speak my mind, and loudly
((Courtesy: AP Photos))
where I got my nickname in college which is Megaphone Margie.
You know, I did art, I did dance. I even did, I was very interested in Eastern Religion.
((Courtesy: Margery Goldberg))
I figured I am going to spend my life in art, so I want a well-rounded degree. And your art is only as good as your life experiences. When I opened my first studio in Georgetown after I graduated college, I was selling my work for more than my professor was selling his work.
((Courtesy: Margery Goldberg))
The general philosophy of sculptors in wood, and it’s very African, is they say they let the spirit out of the wood.
((Courtesy: Margery Goldberg))
One of the reasons I like wood so much is, it talks to you. It changes depending on how you carve it. It changes with the grain. You know, artists have been creating figurative sculpture forever. But the thing I did that was different from anybody else was
((Courtesy: Margery Goldberg))
that I made female bodies under glass that were cocktail tables. I was doing things that male woodworkers were not doing. They didn’t carve human bodies under glass.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
Nobody trains to own a gallery, really.
((NATS: Margery Goldberg))
Well, we can start showing them the objects…
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
So I was good in business, and, you know, my father taught me, you know, everything I know about business and promotion. I mean, I basically get 2,000 artists a year, who send me their art to look at. I mean, you know, most of it I don’t like.
When I take on an artist, this artist has to knock my socks off and has to give me an artgasm, which I can show you what an artgasm is, if you like. I like the unusual. I like people who come up with a technique that nobody has ever thought of before. So we do a lot of three-dimensional, mixed media. But I also have really fine painters. They say I want my art well-crafted and my craft well-arted. I am not into sloppy.
((MUSIC/NATS))
This is a very complicated piece.
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
Well, Steven Hansen is one of the artists I have shown for 45 years. He’s basically a self-taught artist. About 12 years ago, and this is my funny line about this, when the Supreme Court actually made decent decisions, they made a decision that parody is not copy. So, he can take any painting that was ever painted. As long as he adds his characters, it’s fine. And the amazing part of these, he paints them. They’re not photographs. They are not photostats. He actually paints these. So, this one is called, A Bar at the Folies Bergere, by Manet, and it’s in a London museum. And it’s an amazing painting in and of itself. But the part you don’t realize is that if you see the painting in person, it’s a mirror. So, some of this, like this part, is the people behind it. So he is painting the reflection of it. And it’s, you know, this was a complicated piece to paint. And then, you know, the guy is so pleased with himself now that he’s finished painting it, he’s having some champagne which is, of course, in the painting.
Well, this is a Magritte and it’s called, Clairvoyance. And the kind of theme of this is, you know, he’s…the painter is painting the egg and he’s painting the chicken. And it’s sort of like what came first, the chicken or the egg? And this guy is kind of looking at him like, what are you doing? You know, and so…it’s every detail he does, even the guy’s hair, you know. I mean, he just really does an amazing job. You know, one of the things I say is, I don’t do anything particularly depressing. I figure if you want to be depressed, read the news, watch the news, talk to your friends and family, but you’re not going to find it here. I want people to feel uplifted.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((NATS: Man and Margery at fair))
I have a glasses case. These could be useful.
Want me to cut them in half? Just kidding.
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
One of my clients is the National Association of Home Builders. And they put out a statistic that said within five years, 50 percent of all carpenters are going to be retiring. It is the most endangered trade in this country and in Europe. We wrote a grant to build a mobile woodshop.
((NATS: Man))
If this is spinning this way…
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
And to train a new generation of carpenters.
((NATS: Woman))
Wow, that’s so good!
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
What we often do is teach young kids how to turn things on a lathe, which they just adore doing.
((NATS: Child))
Oh, there it goes! I did it.
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
And I just felt that most schools don’t have woodshops anymore. And these, they need a trade. I mean, I know the percentage of kids that went to college from my high school, 98 percent. There isn’t one school in this city that would come close to that. Tonight, there’s classes here in our stationary woodshop. It was just something that I really had wanted to do and felt there is a need for in the city. We really built something, and now we are helping a lot of students.
((NATS))