Meet Sandy Huse | Wood-centric kinetic sculptor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sandy Huse and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sandy, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Pursuing the arts wasn’t a choice, it was a necessity. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a crayon or a pencil or a piece of chalk in my hand, later to be followed by hammers, saws and carving tools. I remember being fascinated by different styles of cartooning and animation, and especially loved the old style Disney and Looney Tunes cartoons and movies with their rich characters and backgrounds.

But, being brought up in the Midwest in the 70’s and 80’s generally meant that girls were “encouraged” to seek employment in much more traditional areas. I remembered taking a typing class in high school because that would prepare me to become a secretary. Or a teacher. Or a homemaker. A job wasn’t something one necessarily felt drawn to or might enjoy, which I never understood, especially if you were going to be working most of your adult life.

When the time came, I decided to go to college and study fine arts, mostly drawing and painting, still with the hope of becoming an animator. However, my course was abruptly changed sophomore year when I was hired for a work/study position as a backstage theatre technician and was immediately hooked by the magic. From touring road shows featuring magicians to comics to badly produced second-rate Shakespeare, they were all wonderful to me and I got to see it all from the wings. Every day was different. I could be hanging lights one afternoon, the next, I could be repairing and painting scenery or babysitting an albino skunk who was the star of a small troupe of traveling exotic animals.

Eventually, I figured out that being a theatrical technician was my real love, and got an internship with the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre in their props department, which finally led to a 35-year career working all over the country in various types of theatrical venues. It has been my pleasure to have worked on movies, television, commercials, a couple of Olympics, in traditional theatres, on rock concerts and one small job for the Oscars. I spent a couple of semesters at Calarts teaching in their masters property program, and on and on.

A lot can happen in 35 years.

And while it was a marvelous run, I always had the urge to create fine art, to follow my own vision and produce my own work. A few years ago, I was introduced to the wood lathe and had an epiphany: I learned I loved making 3-dimensional objects from wood and so the door opened to a new avocation as a wood-centric kinetic sculptor. I became fascinated with automata and wanted to learn about sculptural animation of objects and set out on my current path as a full-time studio artist.

So, the long answer to your short question about a career as a creative is that I simply couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As I mentioned earlier, I have assigned myself the moniker of “wood-centric kinetic sculptor”, meaning that I specialize in sculptural pieces that have some form of movement and are mostly made of wood. This doesn’t stop me from using other materials such as metals, plastics, found objects (both natural and man-made) and the random Spam can. I have also branched out into lighting, paper-popups, and am starting to explore working with sound and working larger scale.

My kinetic pieces are self-motivated, meaning that the audience provides the movements’ activation. This could mean cranking gears, sliding levers, opening a box, or jiggling a spring. I currently don’t use any motors or computers as I am particularly interested in having the observer participate hands-on. I believe that we would all be better humans if “art” was more accessible and if adults were allowed and encouraged to continue having a sense of delight and play rather than putting that away as grown-ups.

I also firmly believe that continuing to learn and be curious about things that fascinate us makes us better people. My personal learning challenges and lessons are myriad since I’m a “one-off” sculptor: I don’t make more than one of any particular piece. I may make related series of objects, but never reproductions. This means my skill sets are continually expanding as there is always something to be learned about materials, tools, paints, engineering, composition, and so on. And no, it’s not particularly easy…but it is interesting. Boredom is never a problem if you create something new every day.

When I contemplate what is really wonderful about being an artist and surrounded by a tribe of creatives is that I have discovered a language and support system that is astonishingly generous and mentors abound. Despite having a wide array of disciplines and geographic locations, artists can reach out to others all over the world and feel welcome. In these unsettled times, humanity could use a little more art.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a fan of road trips, and despite my living in LA, I would take my friend, get out of Dodge and hop over to the Grand Canyon, north rim preferred. We would stay in one of the rim cabins then take a couple days to hike down into the canyon and stay at Phantom Ranch making sure to check out the Colorado River at the bottom.

On the way back to California, we’d make a stop at Joshua Tree National Park, maybe do a little bouldering, and camp for a night or two, taking in the unearthly scenery there and the ever-changing sky and light.

Then, we’d come back into LA and do what I call a “gallery crawl” where we would go from gallery to gallery checking out various shows of artists who interested us. There are a TON of small to large galleries in LA with all different “flavors” of art. And of course, downtown has 2 excellent bookstores: The Last Bookstore and Hennessey + Ingalls (who specialize in art and architecture).

There’s always the Japan American National Museum as well, with their tea garden and store and an extensive collection of WWII internment memorabilia memorializing the shameful round up and imprisonment of Japanese Americans.

I”m blipping over most of the food and refreshment opportunities since there are endless possibilities in LA from street vendors to ethnic foods of all types. However, one personal favorite is Tirzahs Mexi-Terranean in Boyle Heights (on Instagram), a family-owned restaurant making Mexican food with a Mediterranean twist.

If we wanted to grocery shop and make our own food, Super King on San Fernando in Glassell Park is the go-to for the most amazing ingredients from all over the world.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am grateful to the generosity of all the artists from all the disciplines I have met who have unstintingly given me support, kindness and direction. There are too many to name here, but I love and appreciate them all and would still be an artistic embryo without their nourishment.

Instagram: @sandyhuseartist

Other: vimeo/Sandy Huse artist: https://vimeo.com/user64190336

Image Credits
All photos owned by Sandy Huse