WEBVTT 00:00:07.471 --> 00:00:12.306 [Ursula von Rydingsvard: "Ona"] 00:00:19.377 --> 00:00:20.979 [buzzing sounds from machinery] 00:00:20.979 --> 00:00:23.769 [Polich Talix Fine Art Foundry, Rock Tavern, NY] 00:00:36.727 --> 00:00:41.398 I'm trying to get a look that has a wide range-- 00:00:41.398 --> 00:00:42.667 a variation-- 00:00:43.364 --> 00:00:45.577 between the different colors. 00:00:48.310 --> 00:00:49.925 [VON RYDINGSVARD] And then I did this a lot. 00:00:49.925 --> 00:00:50.837 [PHILIP CASTORE] I see that. I like it. 00:00:50.837 --> 00:00:51.623 [VON RYDINGSVARD] And I did this. 00:00:51.973 --> 00:00:53.245 But I really exaggerated. 00:00:53.245 --> 00:00:54.155 [CASTORE] Okay. 00:00:54.155 --> 00:00:56.048 [VON RYDINGSVARD] But you, with your leaky lines, 00:00:56.048 --> 00:00:57.217 might have made the best thing of all, 00:00:57.217 --> 00:00:58.422 do you know what I mean? 00:00:58.422 --> 00:00:59.278 [Philip Castore, Patina Artist] 00:00:59.278 --> 00:01:00.346 [CASTORE] Well, we'll see! 00:01:00.346 --> 00:01:01.884 [VON RYDINGSVARD] We'll see what it looks like. 00:01:02.004 --> 00:01:06.104 I'm just trying to figure out what is going to work! 00:01:07.326 --> 00:01:10.734 Next to a big big big Corten steel building. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:18.871 The Barclays Center piece "Ona" 00:01:18.871 --> 00:01:22.793 is really the most major piece that I've done in bronze. 00:01:22.793 --> 00:01:26.112 I have never done anything quite that scale. 00:01:27.187 --> 00:01:30.846 And "ona" in Polish refers to 'her' or 'she', 00:01:31.753 --> 00:01:35.859 And I thought that there's something about that sculpture 00:01:35.859 --> 00:01:40.352 that has some hint of a female feel. 00:01:42.292 --> 00:01:44.986 It is a simple name and it has a reference 00:01:44.986 --> 00:01:46.552 that makes sense in my head 00:01:46.552 --> 00:01:50.436 in terms of what that sculpture looks like. 00:02:03.097 --> 00:02:05.468 I was surprised I was using colors. 00:02:06.335 --> 00:02:08.661 I can't stand colors ordinarily 00:02:08.661 --> 00:02:10.715 because, in part, I don't know how to use them. 00:02:10.715 --> 00:02:13.555 But, also, they feel abrasive to my eyes. 00:02:13.555 --> 00:02:16.464 So I was amazed that I was doing this with a patina. 00:02:20.487 --> 00:02:23.151 I really didn't know where I was going, 00:02:23.151 --> 00:02:25.259 and I kept thinking during the whole process 00:02:25.259 --> 00:02:26.552 of my putting on the patina, 00:02:26.552 --> 00:02:30.260 "Ursula, you should have stuck to your black!" 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.321 But I was convinced that for the Barclays Center, 00:02:34.321 --> 00:02:38.060 which is so loaded with that metal look-- 00:02:38.060 --> 00:02:40.461 the rusting Corten steel. 00:02:40.461 --> 00:02:44.691 I was so convinced that I wanted something that was lighter and brighter. 00:02:47.398 --> 00:02:50.309 [CASTORE] The heat opens up the pores of the bronze 00:02:50.309 --> 00:02:52.443 and readily accepts the chemical. 00:02:52.443 --> 00:02:55.405 You can have a wet application or a dry application. 00:02:55.405 --> 00:02:57.287 It gives you different looks. 00:02:58.982 --> 00:03:02.648 [VON RYDINGSVARD] I've been able to make the wood do acrobatics, 00:03:02.648 --> 00:03:06.780 and I sort of twist it to go into places 00:03:06.780 --> 00:03:09.644 it never thought it could or would want to. 00:03:10.124 --> 00:03:12.085 I can't do that with metal. 00:03:14.646 --> 00:03:16.806 There's a level of frustration 00:03:16.806 --> 00:03:21.448 because I feel like I'm not in as much control. 00:03:23.447 --> 00:03:25.383 The beautiful thing that the wood can do 00:03:25.383 --> 00:03:27.776 is give me so many details. 00:03:28.337 --> 00:03:31.425 It gives me a psychological base 00:03:31.626 --> 00:03:35.098 and details of that base with which to work. 00:03:37.500 --> 00:03:40.662 I'm definitely not trying to replicate the wood. 00:03:41.154 --> 00:03:44.815 And I'm wanting it to feel like metal, 00:03:44.815 --> 00:03:46.721 because it obviously will feel like it. 00:03:46.721 --> 00:03:48.921 And I want it to look like metal. 00:03:49.456 --> 00:03:51.850 But bronze in any case, in time, 00:03:51.850 --> 00:03:54.184 sort of finds its own patina, 00:03:54.184 --> 00:03:56.544 and then it takes on its own look. 00:04:06.836 --> 00:04:09.121 Often these sculptures are large. 00:04:09.121 --> 00:04:10.845 Often I'm on scaffolding. 00:04:10.845 --> 00:04:13.678 I'm on scaffolding, in fact, one-third of my life. 00:04:14.478 --> 00:04:16.214 There's always this urgency 00:04:16.214 --> 00:04:20.111 with my having only so many years left. 00:04:20.321 --> 00:04:23.776 And when they say, "When you get older, life gets easier,"-- 00:04:24.006 --> 00:04:25.560 it does not. 00:04:26.089 --> 00:04:29.877 You know, my biggest hope is that I get more courage, 00:04:29.877 --> 00:04:31.708 I get more trust in myself, 00:04:31.708 --> 00:04:32.784 I get more faith-- 00:04:32.784 --> 00:04:37.175 that I'm able to do things that maybe I wasn't able to do before. 00:04:37.823 --> 00:04:42.480 And I feel unbelievably lucky to have the kind of talent-- 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:44.077 the kind of brains-- 00:04:44.077 --> 00:04:46.073 that are working with me. 00:04:49.176 --> 00:04:52.751 I've been working in Brooklyn for thirty-four years. 00:04:53.140 --> 00:04:57.524 It does make me happy that there's a piece of mine in Brooklyn. 00:05:02.145 --> 00:05:06.284 It was very clear that this was not a museum situation. 00:05:07.877 --> 00:05:10.940 I wanted this to feel 00:05:11.377 --> 00:05:15.281 as though one could approach the work... 00:05:15.415 --> 00:05:17.583 that one could approach it psychologically. 00:05:17.583 --> 00:05:19.739 One could also approach it physically. 00:05:19.739 --> 00:05:22.677 But they would both sort of blend. 00:05:22.940 --> 00:05:25.277 Somehow, I think that one could almost 00:05:25.277 --> 00:05:27.180 see with one's hands, as well, 00:05:27.180 --> 00:05:28.993 when one feels it. 00:05:37.518 --> 00:05:41.384 It just gives me pleasure to have the possibility 00:05:42.554 --> 00:05:45.845 to enable people to be exposed to art, 00:05:45.845 --> 00:05:47.650 should they want to. 00:05:50.413 --> 00:05:53.983 It's nothing that I would wish to force upon them. 00:05:54.383 --> 00:05:56.814 But that makes me feel good.