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| San Diego artist James Watts has worked with wood since his childhood when he would work with his grandfather who owned an antique telephone museum in Kansas. Besides wood and metal, Watts has dabbled in plaster, clay, and cement. He is the child of an American father and Japanese mother. Watts said that he grew up in a strict military household, but that his background helped shape him as an artist. Watts is a self-taught sculptor who admittedly started out pursuing writing, but instead found visual arts to be the place where he can be at his most expressive.
Part assemblage, part photomontage, Watts’ sculpture Or is part of a series; he calls this the “awareness piece” because of its movement. Or is a wooden sculpture of a baby, which has been covered entirely with pieces of tin cans hammered into the wood. The head turns back and forth, giving a new element to the piece, and making it seem aware of itself. The word or, generally used between two things that are mutually exclusive, is an interesting choice since it seems to imply that the piece could be one thing or another. It draws a fine line between humor and seriousness.  (For Grades 3-5) What does this sculpture look like to you? What does the head movement add to the sculpture? What does the covering of colorful tin cans remind you of? Why do you think Watts chose the title Or? |
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James Watts
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