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in bright rhythm
every good piece of art
visual tension, you know,
it captivates you
as a viewer
and also as a maker.
I really enjoy
is trying to make it work
very, very important.
this is a tree trunk.
I chose this particular piece
right here
because of its curvature.
It's a really unusual bend,
and you don't normally
in a tree, in a tree branch.
I use the fiberglass cloth,
which is very common.
You can get it at any store,
any hardware store,
then some gel with hardener,
then I just brush it on.
series of casts that uh,
looking something like that.
with this really unusual
that I can't really identify.
The reason I like this type
of material is because it um,
it has these visual connections
to other things,
honey, skin, you know,
it has this really unusual
amber color that uh,
a little bit confusing too,
because it may become perhaps
a little repulsive to someone,
but at the same time it becomes
sort of attractive and familiar.
will work, but I'm hoping
4 limbs in an interesting way.
The intrigue is, is very much
part of the, the game, I guess.
to utilize
natural materials in my work,
but I prefer to juxtapose
the natural elements
of these things
synthetic, man-made if you will.
I have the basis
for the material itself,
which is a root ball.
and I trimmed it a little bit.
add a more synthetic-looking,
plastic-looking paint,
blue or something,
or something like that.
for this thing,
it will look sort of synthetic,
that it's a natural element.
that's being created
by positioning these
two things side-by-side,
or integrated in different ways.
I'm trying to make
these materials,
these elements,
have a conversation.
The use of these
natural elements,
it's already strange enough,
a little bit unconventional.
When you think of
sculpture, you think of
metal and stone,
you know, public sculpture,
of delicacy that's lost,
you know, the finesse that is
somewhat underappreciated,
I guess, in 3-dimensional
work, and I try to utilize that
in my work as well.
I like delicate things,
things that are kind of fragile
that could perhaps break.
I am originally
from Valparaiso, Chile.
where you came from, so for me,
that I really treasured
with my grandfather,
because he was the one that
sort of took me under his wing.
He, he was a civil engineer,
and so he had lots of tools,
how to use many of them.
to weld when I was 10.
thing, you know, C'mon kid,
you need to learn how to
do this, so, you know,
a bunch of stuff.
The majority of my work
the idea of emigration.
that I continue
refer to emigration.
This is why I choose to use
seeds, roots, branches, mud--
to this idea of transplantation
an object, a living object
to another really,
I think, started
the whole thing for me.
There is a piece at the,
the American Craft Council
and it's entitled
Bastones Para Rob.
like a walking cane for Rob.
And Rob works at a quarry,
out of the ground,
lot of movement,
lots of twists and turns.
I made these structures
that are two pieces of wood,
another one on the top
so the root itself is
somewhere in the middle.
where the new wood
joins the root,
there's a band of copper.
The copper is a material
that resonates with me a lot
because my country of origin,
Chile, is
the number one producer
of copper in the world.
there is a piece of my land
in this particular piece
of copper is, you know,
to utilize my own--
a piece of my land, if you will.
(man) The American Craft Council
that champions craft in America.
At the American Craft Council
we deal with a lot of artists
of traditional media.
exciting to me
about Alonso's work is the way
that he pretty easily moves
in between a variety
of different materials in
the creation of his sculptures.
His work kind of transcends
a media-specific approach.
Alonso's
a very thoughtful artist.
Every piece that he has
tells a story,
and so our challenge to him
was to take these materials
from a gym which was relocating,
they were just going to discard
materials,
and sort of upcycle that
material into a new piece.
represents a woman's figure,
of fitness,
can see represents movement,
also resembles
the bottom of a shoe.
And so he really internalized
this whole process
and what those materials meant
to make them into something new.
(Alonso) With age comes wisdom,
as you know,
and so all the mistakes that
I've made in the studio
you learn from those mistakes
and you, you make 'em work.
There's also a sense of patience
that develops with, with age.
evolved in a positive way.
lucky man, because I've always
ever since I can remember,
been making something.