Photos by: Upperhands
Words by: Duke DuRock
The Do LaB was excited to attend the opening of Shira Loa’s “Tangible Growth in Metal Sculpture” recently at the Dialect Art Gallery in downtown Los Angeles. Loa has been an integral part of our production team over the past year, and it was great to see so many people come out to support her first L.A. show.
As we learned in our last interview with Loa, part of what makes seeing her art work so special is that her unique metal sculptures stem from a sincere passion, strong creative process and true perseverance during 12 years spent honing her craft.
“It’s so awesome because I’ve worked so hard on this,” Loa said to me at her packed show opening night. “I cloistered myself for the last four months. And to finally be able to share this, have people respond and finally understand what I’m doing, is incredible.
“This show is about doors opening and me being able to express myself and share that with people that I love so much.”
Making It Happen
“Tangible Growth in Metal Sculpture” is something Loa believed strongly in from the beginning stages. Knowing what she ultimately needed to do but, like many creative minds, not necessarily sure of how to fund it, Loa launched a successful KickStarter project which drew donations from The Do LaB and others to greatly aid in making her creative vision a reality.
“I was very shy about asking for money because I don’t like asking for help at all,” Loa shared. “I was going to make it happen regardless, but I was going to go into major debt doing it. I decided to try raising some money through KickStarter, and the amount of support was unbelievable. It happened because, just like my father had told me, ‘Nobody’s going to give you money if they don’t feel what you feel.’ So I spent the time to talk about what it was that I was doing: the joy, the interest, all of it.”
Personalized and Organic Art
Loa’s finished art pieces are one-of-a-kind, and sculpted out of cold, hard metals like brass, bronze, copper or steel, with ample organic elements running throughout them, as if they were flowers from your garden. “Everything I do is inspired by nature,” Loa explained. “I’ve made these pieces and loved the process for a long time, but before I had a way to efficiently present them, no one really knew what to do with them. Now I have an idea of how to present them in a way that they are more accessible: to build them all in within their own eco-system, so people see them and understand where they would go. The coolest part for me is that I’m working with material that’s mainly hard, rough and tough. But I’m making it look soft, organic and alive.”
The concept of sculpting with metal is foreign to most of us. And one of the cool aspects of Loa’s current show is that she’s been able to display her process in full detail, from inception to completion. “I’m so grateful that the Dialect Gallery allowed me to actually show how these things happen,” said Loa. “I’m a teacher and I love thinking about the process and geeking out on how it all happens.”
Process and Intentions
When you come to experience the show, notice that every single one of Loa’s metal sculptures takes on a life of its own, making each piece truly personalized as opposed to mass produced, assembly-line style art work. “I tried for a while but it killed my will to do art,” Loa said. “If I can make one-of-a-kinds that are touched, worked and show that there’s an element of humanity and creativity, then that goes beyond stamping out the same thing. For people to be able take home a piece that’s one-of-a-kind, which someone worked with their hands to create, it’s magic. It’s something beyond jewelry.”
For each finished piece, blood, sweat and tears literally go into each stroke of the many different hammers Loa uses. It’s this strong sense of creative passion, along with positive intentions that Loa is all too happy to share with the people who view and purchase her work.
“There is so much energy and love poured into every single piece,” shared Loa. “There are 10 to 20 different elements in each one. Then, if you look at one of those elements, there are probably thousands of hammer marks. That means each hit has a certain intention. You can’t get that if you go into a jewelry store and buy something that’s machined.
“A lot of people say, ‘I like to make art, it’s fun,’” Loa observed. “But to push yourself to your absolute limit, that’s when you get to put the ‘work’ at the end of ‘artwork.’”
Loa’s work ethic is tremendous, and her passion for learning is even stronger. It’s this potent combination that will see her continue to grow in the art form she loves by creating work that is both beautiful and inspirational. “As an artist, you’re always searching for the medium that you can express yourself fully with. It’s an indescribable feeling when you do. I’ve been drawing all my life and I started exploring sculpture. But when I first started getting involved in metal, something just pulled me in. Even after 12 years of metal sculpting, there’s still so much to discover. I’m learning something new every time I do it.”
Be sure to make your way to the Dialect Gallery where “Tangible Growth in Metal Sculpture” runs through its closing reception on Saturday, November 5th. The address is 215 W. 6th Street, Suite 111, Los Angeles, CA.
You can also check out Shira Loa’s website along with her blog.
