Oscar Edelman has sculpted things since he was a child. He started out with clay.
“I was fascinated,” he says, “ to see something recognizable emerge from a lump of nothing.”
Sometimes, in mid-process, what he had fashioned reminded him of something other than what he had set out to portray.
“Without any remorse I could switch my sights,” Edelman said.
Today, the 89-year-old Hadley artist has expanded his mediums to include wood and copper wire, as well as clay. He even worked, briefly, in welded iron rod.
Hampshire Life: What is your creative process like?
Oscar Edelman: Working in wood is interesting to me. I try to find an irregularly shaped piece and discern a shape emerging from it. Then I work to liberate that image. Almost always, when the image has emerged, I lose interest.
I don’t have the patience or desire for perfection to sit there for hours sanding and polishing. Only when I make frames for my wife’s paintings do I do that.
I like to find natural objects that, again, need a little help to have an image emerge. Finding a scrap of a tree that reminds one of a bird’s wing and finding a stone that can be split into three parts — then lopping off half of the central piece and epoxying the remaining three pieces together in a seamless joint to make a base is an example of where I like to go.
Working with copper wire is another of my avenues for expression.
H.L.: Does a piece start with a “Eureka!” moment?
O.E.: No.
H.L.: How do you know you’re on the right track?
O.E.: I don’t question that.
H.L.: What do you do when you get stuck?
O.E.: I quit and start something else.
H.L.: How do you know when the work is done?
O.E.: It’s never done.
H.L.: What did you do today that relates to your art?
O.E.: I applied for and was accepted to exhibit at the Burnett Gallery in Amherst.
— Kathleen Mellen
An exhibit of Oscar Edelman’s sculpture is on view through Sept. 30 at the Burnett Gallery at the Jones Library, 43 Amity St. in Amherst. Gallery hours are Mondays from 1 to 5 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Sundays. For information about the Burnett Gallery, visit joneslibrary.org/burnett. For more information about Edelman’s work, send an email to oedelman@gmail.com.