By Sam Wigan, Sculptor
A little under 10 years ago, on a warm Summer’s day in London, I knocked on the door of David Wynne, today’s greatest living sculptor and the man who would become my beloved friend, hero and mentor. This handsome, raffish, hugely successful sculptor, 50 years my senior, opened the door with the gentle delight and warm heartedness that I have come to know so well, and at once invited me to come in and look round his studio. An hour later, overwhelmed, I felt that I needn’t become a sculptor as David had made it all already. “Sam,” David said in that deep, serious tone that I have also come to know well, “there is nothing new under the Sun… but The Truth must be stated by each generation”.
Not long afterwards, outside a Los Angeles diner on an even warmer winter’s evening, and in a state of mind-blowing happiness and inner joy unparalleled in my life up to that point, I hugged my spiritual mentor and dear friend John-Roger. “I love you” I said. “You’re so full of love, you’d love anybody” he laughed back.
Now, as I reflect on how to take the next step in the sculpture that stands half-made in my studio, I realize that it is not possible to disengage the influence of either David or John-Roger from my work, nor would I wish to do so! The love I have for both men is so deep, and the enthusiasm with which I have learned (and continue to learn) from all they have shared with me is so heartfelt that I experience their hand in my work as a natural flow of my own expression.
It’s no surprise then that two of the most precious things I have been told in my lifetime have been David saying that of all the young sculptors that have come though his studio I was the one whom he thought might become a great sculptor, and John-Roger stating that he’d love me forever and in that moment my understanding of how long that forever is.
Paradoxically, I suspect that it’s only possible for me to enjoy the profound love I have for my mentors, and to be so influenced by them, because of the deep trust I have in my own self-expression. If I were less self-confident I would probably feel suffocated by the admiration I have for them, trying to do it their way and possibly losing the all important love of Self that makes a work of art or a life well lived communicate so powerfully.
That said, I am quick to put myself in the role of student when I am with them. The insights John-Roger and David offer come from lifetimes dedicated to their craft and I’m glad they are able to share them. They offer these without ego and as simple truths based upon years of experience. I am regularly blown away by some casually referred to wisdom of David’s, such as a particular technique for making an armature or an appraisal of what makes a particular artist’s work so potent. Equally, I have found nothing to rival my time with John-Roger and those occasions when he gives me an intent look in which my whole world seems to turn and a prayer is answered. In both cases, I am reminded again that here stands my master teacher.
What makes learning from my mentors so easy is that they never attempt to inflict their opinions upon me. Whilst I often seek their council in the knowledge that they will be unfalteringly direct and honest, (like the time I invited David to criticize a particular piece I was working on and he said: “Sam, I could tell you how wonderful it is or tell you honestly what I think. Which would you like?”), they rarely try to teach me anything. John-Roger says that he doesn’t teach anything we don’t know already. David says that you can’t teach art, just as you can’t teach love. They demonstrate and I learn according to my ability.
John-Roger demonstrates practical spirituality: love in action. If your love for another is just an idea or a feeling then it probably won’t get you very far. It’s when it is in action that it bears fruit.
When aspiring students tell David that they want to learn to sculpt, his advice is usually “Just do it!” Having taught himself to be the most successful sculptor alive today, he is an advocate of learning by doing and will be quick to dismiss three years at art school as proof of one’s ability. The proof is in the doing.
A teacher telling a student how to be an artist is an anathema to David. Similarly, John-Roger advocates the validity of one’s own experience above anything we might be told or read about. In their own ways they are each telling us to go back to our inner guide and to have confidence in our own experience and expression. It has been this that has given me the confidence to carve my career as a sculptor. I distinctly remember the occasion I first said “I’m a sculptor” and I knew in my Heart this to be true. No coincidence that this was shortly after I had met David and been introduced to John-Roger’s work; nor is it surprising that I received my first commission for a sculpture about a week later!
So, as I set about modelling the clay onto the metal armature of my current commission, I find that I have a deep well of both spiritual and sculptural wisdom to refer to. I expect David will question my associating him with a great spiritual teacher like John-Roger, and it feels somehow a little trite to express the depth of my relationship with John-Roger in a few short words. Yet the contribution of these two men in my life and work is unrivalled. As I look back over almost 10 years, I see that I feel gratitude for the friendship of both men in my life every day, usually several times a day. They are two of the monumental blessings in my life. In my heart, my sculpture will always be dedicated to them.
