1 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,720 I don't generally think  about large audiences. 2 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,280 I think about, who would I like to show this to? 3 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:53,640 Who would I, that came over to visit, 4 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:56,825 would I say, "Let me show you this"? 5 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:00,560 (sculpture grinds) 6 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:02,360 If it meets that, 7 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:04,640 then I figure a lot of people can look at it. 8 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:06,040 Okay, okay, okay, okay. 9 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:07,480 Okay, okay, okay, okay. 10 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:09,723 Okay, okay, okay. 11 00:01:09,723 --> 00:01:10,480 All right, okay, okay, okay. 12 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:12,360 Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. 13 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:13,720 Okay, okay, okay. 14 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:15,480 All right, okay, okay, okay, 15 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,440 okay, okay, okay, okay. 16 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:20,160 Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. 17 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:21,418 Okay, okay, okay, okay. (humming) 18 00:01:23,162 --> 00:01:32,028 (humming and trilling) (camcorder beeps) 19 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,311 Last winter we had a lot of mice in the studio. 20 00:02:14,902 --> 00:02:16,622 And I got rid of most of them. 21 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:19,520 Then I was sitting around here, 22 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:21,216 not having a very good project. 23 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,880 So I set up this infrared camera at night 24 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:31,190 in different places, and see what happens. 25 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:41,266 And I'm getting, oh, usually  three or four different events, 26 00:02:41,266 --> 00:02:41,770 (Bruce chuckles) 27 00:02:43,055 --> 00:02:44,623 things happening with the mice, 28 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,480 a mouse or two coming through, and the cat. 29 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:50,849 And so far they've never  happened at the same time. 30 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:53,640 And then every morning when I come in here 31 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:57,920 and replay what's been captured, 32 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:00,000 it's like a little meditation, 33 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,347 because you can't really watch  any one part of the screen 34 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:05,520 or you'll miss something  that happens in another part, 35 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:07,602 because it happens pretty  fast and it's real short. 36 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,920 So you have to kind of not watch anything 37 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:16,067 so that you can be aware of everything. 38 00:03:31,783 --> 00:03:33,873 (footsteps) 39 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:38,829 This is... 40 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:44,760 oh, a project I said I'd get involved in 41 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,480 probably almost a year and a half or two years ago 42 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:50,000 for the Wisconsin sesquicentennial. 43 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,720 And it's a portfolio of prints 44 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:54,800 by artists either from Wisconsin 45 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,760 or we've had some lived in Wisconsin 46 00:03:57,760 --> 00:03:59,720 or something to do with Wisconsin. 47 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:06,360 And I lived in Wisconsin quite a bit of my life. 48 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:10,080 I think I'm about finished with it. 49 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:14,200 I just wrote "Wisconsin sesquicentennial project" 50 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:15,431 on these three plates. 51 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:19,720 I didn't start trying to be an artist 52 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,444 until I was a couple of years into college. 53 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:26,840 And I've never understood  why I decided at that point 54 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:28,200 that I could, but I did, 55 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,360 because I was doing very well at the other stuff. 56 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:35,560 Or I recognized that I didn't  have the passion about it, 57 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:36,840 mathematics and physics, 58 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:38,990 that friends of mine had that  were doing the same stuff. 59 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:40,800 And I saw that in art. 60 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,078 And for whatever reason I switched. 61 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:47,360 I needed a different way to approach 62 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:49,734 the idea of being an artist. 63 00:05:11,288 --> 00:05:25,855 (engine starts) 64 00:05:25,855 --> 00:05:27,735 This runs an hour. 65 00:05:29,719 --> 00:05:32,734 And that's how long it took  to do what I was doing. 66 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,671 And I wasn't sure, when I  finished it, if anybody would 67 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:44,560 take it seriously as a work of art, 68 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:49,771 and I don't know how many  people do, anyway. (chuckles) 69 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,080 It turned out to be kind of interesting to watch 70 00:05:57,080 --> 00:05:58,637 and watch more than once. 71 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:05,440 In the studio I don't do a lot of work 72 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,641 that requires repetitive activity. 73 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,240 I spend a lot of time looking and thinking 74 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:16,120 and then trying to find the most efficient way 75 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:18,480 to get what I want, 76 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:20,240 whether it's drawing or sculpture 77 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,320 or casting plaster or whatever. 78 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,720 But part of the enjoyment I take in it 79 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:28,557 is finding the most efficient way to do it. 80 00:06:32,531 --> 00:06:33,466 (post thuds) 81 00:06:33,466 --> 00:06:34,707 (onlooker laughs) (Bruce mumbles) 82 00:06:36,841 --> 00:06:37,609 Huh? Scared me. 83 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:41,960 Sorry. 84 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:43,760 Good job! 85 00:06:45,417 --> 00:06:47,400 And I don't have any  specific step to take, 86 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:49,623 because I don't start the same way every time. 87 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:54,440 There is knowing when it's enough 88 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:55,989 and you can leave it alone. 89 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:12,799 And a lot of it's accidental,  the result of cheap equipment. 90 00:07:12,799 --> 00:07:15,742 (Bruce laughs) Accidents. 91 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,494 The accidents kind of keep  it real too, and I like that. 92 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:26,307 But it's what keeps me in the studio, 93 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:29,520 always being surprised. 94 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:37,320 So there's some joy in there too. (laughs) 95 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:42,675 When it all kind of works, and you say, "Ah." 96 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:46,035 Makes it okay. 97 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:04,784 (rope whacks) 98 00:08:04,784 --> 00:08:09,074 (horse hooves clopping) 99 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,000 When I got involved with the horses, 100 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,600 and I was in my 40s or  something before that happened, 101 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:22,532 and so I had to learn a lot 102 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:25,320 from people that had been  doing it all their lives, 103 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:27,478 and so sometimes it's hard to communicate. 104 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:32,480 It's been interesting for me 105 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,960 to work with these cowboys and  ranchers and be around them. 106 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:39,239 And they're hard jobs that  they do, physically hard jobs. 107 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:43,880 Good guys, take a lot of pride in their work, 108 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:46,840 and they like to do it efficiently and cleanly. 109 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:50,280 It's not different from the way 110 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:51,480 I like to work in the studio. 111 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:53,280 Even though the studio looks like a big mess, 112 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:57,534 I like my mind to at least try  and be (chuckles) efficient. 113 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:05,600 I really would have a hard time being here 114 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,840 without that part of my life, just being out here 115 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:12,523 and having kind of a real good reason to be here. 116 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,800 It's hard to not let it take up too much time, 117 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:19,838 because it sure could. 118 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,317 But the other part of me that's an artist 119 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:26,928 is not gonna be satisfied  with the ranching either. 120 00:09:27,931 --> 00:09:30,400 Some things flow from one to the other, 121 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,088 and some can't or don't. 122 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:41,613 This... 123 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,180 In the last few years I've been  working on several projects, 124 00:09:51,180 --> 00:09:52,160 or a couple of projects, 125 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,600 well, several that involve the idea of stairs 126 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:56,400 or bleachers and stadiums. 127 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,120 I was thinking about having a bunch of bleachers 128 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:03,960 that went up and down, you could walk up and down, 129 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,565 and then inverting them and  hanging them from the ceiling. 130 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:11,962 It's sort of like subverting the function. 131 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:15,040 I always thought that the idea 132 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,520 that you can make something  that appears to be functional, 133 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:19,560 but when you try and use it, 134 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:22,600 you can't quite figure out  what its function might be. 135 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:24,600 And that's, in the end, what its function is, 136 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:26,929 is for you to figure out  what to do with it, I guess. 137 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:30,000 In fact, they seem to be using it that way, 138 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:34,843 eating lunch and just sitting out in the sun. 139 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:49,680 (footfalls) 140 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:53,274 There is no regular rhythm to going up and down. 141 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:57,360 You have to take each step and watch it, 142 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,176 and so it requires you to  pay quite a lot of attention. 143 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:07,720 I'm not even sure if you need to walk on it. 144 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,359 But, of course everybody does. 145 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,440 It's the intention that changes it from a stairway 146 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:21,880 to a stairway as a work of art. (chuckles) 147 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:24,294 Because I said so. (chuckles) 148 00:11:29,373 --> 00:11:30,640 I studied mathematics for a while, 149 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:32,360 and one of the things that I always liked about it 150 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:35,580 is that there were things you could prove, 151 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:38,480 but they were just things you proved, 152 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:40,800 they didn't change the  structure of mathematics any. 153 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:43,760 There were things that people have done and proved 154 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:45,840 that changed the structure of mathematics, 155 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:47,080 but it had to be really clear, 156 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:48,734 and sometimes it was very elegant. 157 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:51,160 Having to say it out loud, 158 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:55,758 having to explain what you're  doing, forces you to be clear. 159 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:58,280 You can't kind of just fumble through 160 00:11:58,280 --> 00:11:59,120 and get something and say, 161 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:00,782 "Well, that's what I meant to do all along." 162 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,456 That is the part that I think about in my work; 163 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,256 making sure that what I'm doing is really clear. 164 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:13,513 And then it's available. 165 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:16,080 And those are the kinds of  things that you look for. 166 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:21,000 You look in art, and this changes the structure 167 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:25,000 of how you can think about  art, and it's there for you. 168 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,920 And those are wonderful things 169 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:31,841 when you're in their presence. 170 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:37,280 So that's what we are looking for. 171 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:41,720 Thank you, thank you, thank  you, thank you, thank you, 172 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:45,760 thank you, thank you, thank  you, thank you, thank you, 173 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,840 thank you, thank you, thank  you, thank you, thank you, 174 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,312 thank you, thank you, thank you!