Shelby Kennedy

Click here to see details of the process for "Someone Meditating"

As we travel north on Cloverdale Boulevard this summer, we find ourselves approaching “Someone Meditating” by Shelby Kennedy, a large and arresting piece at the forefront of the plaza. This piece is a large bas-relief of individual heavy clay “bricks”, similar in size and format to adobe bricks. There are figurative and plant forms in high to medium relief. The piece is fired and partially glazed.

“I am focusing on what may be useful to me, and perhaps to other people”, Kennedy told us.  “I want to portray simple things that might hold an emotive energy, and that may engender a wholesome or complete feeling. The main theme I seek to convey is the connection between the beauty of the natural world and our own human aspirations. To reconnect with our innate nature is a most satisfying matter”.

A bas-relief on such a sizable scale presents many logistical challenges, and Kennedy worked intensively for 3+ months to produce “Someone Meditating”. He employed a technique taught by Louis Katz in his 1992 video, “Traditional Tai Pottery”.  First, with the aid of a mold, he produced the individual thick blocks of solid clay. These blocks were then set on a concrete floor to stiffen for a few days, to permit handling. Next, he placed the blocks on a heavy wooden easel and transferred a full size drawing onto them, using a spiked pattern roller and powered charcoal. Now he was ready to start the meticulous work of carving down the backgrounds with large wire loop tools, and modeling and enhancing the figure with wire loop and hardwood tools. Once the bas-relief was concluded in this way, the completed blocks were hollowed out in back to reduce weight, placed on a wire rack to dry, and then fired in a ceramic kiln.  Kennedy crafted a heavy timber stand to hold the “bricks”, and a grid of iron rods that would sit in pre-made grooves in the “bricks” for stability. Finally, he assembled the piece over the course of 2 days onsite, at the Plaza.