The Chapel Hill weekly., 1962-12-09
"A Talk With Robert Howard
CONTINUED from Page u

choices, fewer and fewer restric-
tions, until at the end OF the
semester all the restrictions are
gone. Then you start. The be-
ginning is at the end of the Sc
mester."
He smiled at the paradox.
"It's very difficult to make
choices. In way this course
is very close to the most danger
Gus form of government in the
world, experimentation with de-
mocracy = freedom. The most
dangerous. It's hard. It's easy
to be told what to do, what the
answers are. It's easy for the
government to say do this, do
that. It's easy for Hitler, and
it's easy for the people.
Il try to fill space with some
thing that wasn't there before.
The other way is to take some
thing that's there and knock off
the excess-find the statue in
the block of stone. Those are the
two ways a sculptor goes at it.
It's kind of like the difference
between inductive and deductive
reasoning.
Z" Realities. You know a
blackboard, only it's green, what
we used to call a blackboard? |
write g, r, e, e, n on it and ask
somebody what's that? He says,
Green | say, No, it isn't. It's
white. It's written in white
chalk But | draw circle on
the board and point at it, and
say, that's green
81 got started in this in grade
school. | liked to draw, and then
in high school l took drawing
courses, history of art. Like
many other people | had dreams
of being a commercial artist,
making some money. Big deal.
Actually, | got my masters in
painting Che smiled at himself
again, but | spent so much time
in the sculpture studio So
many new horizons opened
wanted to get in among it and
find out what was there :. back
where we started, having more
experiences :"
If you pay attention to Mr..
Howard when he catches the end
of a thread and starts pulling
himself toward its other end,
mentally hand over hand, as it
were, the soft voice becomes
slightly hypnotic. You find your
head slowly fitting to one side
as you pay less and less atten-
ton to sitting upright and be-
come more engrossed in the soft.
halting speech.
6. Space" he said. "The
Chinese say when making a pot
that We utilize its emptiness
We put up walls to have space.
This space in here, this room, is
given form by the walls. | wish
it could be more empty, with
more space The concept of
zero, nothingness !"
Mr.. Howard's space is filled
with metal c'I work in steel
it's so dynamic")-bits of iron
pipe, unfinished metalwork in va
rlous forms meaningless TO
those who have not experienced
it,, welding and grinding tools. a
welding mask, and, against one
wall, two doors from an old
Buick.
Mr.. Howard went on about
space for some time, starting
with the Egyptians and ending
with the potentiality for being
on both sides of sculpture at
once if the sculpture has a hole
in it; space as form, the dynam-
les OF space. At one point he
said, Il wish I had a teacher like
myself" and laughed.
I'm getting damn tired of one
thing" he said suddenly. I'm
getting tired of people blaming
all the inadequacies around here
on childhood and parents and
Prof. Koch. I mean Chapel Hill.
Everybody always says things
aren't the way they used to be.
oh for the good old days of
Prof. Koch and Wolfe > There
aren't any good old days. There's
only now. Those are previous
days. | think there's something
going on around here. I've felt
it in the last few years. There's
a ripple of something. I'll give
you evidence, facts: last year for
the first time the Art Department
got graduate assistance money
for studio work, where you do il.
YOU don't talk ahOIt If Wa,ro