At five years of age, David Daniels had a coffee can full of clay that he and his siblings started playing with on the kitchen table. They never put it away and he’s never stopped playing with clay. At thirteen he won his first contest. MTV, Sesame Street, movies and more came later.
Clay sculpting and caning led to animation and the development of his own stratacut process which he describes as motion sculpture or sculpting time. He explains, “That’s my gift, I see time from the outside and I see motion sculpture and see how the pieces all flow together and we’re a part of all that.”
I had to watch his video sampler several times with my mouth open before my brain began to catch up. If you like to cane, this brilliant guy is a must see. He adds that, “I intentionally leave crudeness in the mix, I could control it more, and I choose not to because it is less interesting to look at.” The interview with David Daniels is here. His tutorials at the bottom of the interview give you a sense of his process.
Susan Hyde sent us this mindblowing link.
Susan Lomuto ,
Wow…not much more to say about this kind of genius, except to encourage you to watch the demo videos (five of them)at the bottom of the interview page under “Extras”. Daniels shows how he manipulates and cuts the canes to create an animation.
Wow…
Judy ,
ODL! I had to watch the cube thingy 3 times. What a rush. I can completely see why Susan was drawn to his work and process. Thanks again Cynthia for opening my eyes to the world.
Jeannie ,
He vision and his process is like nothing I’ve ever seen. The interview is great. My computer was being fussy and I was not able to watch the tutorial.
Cynthia Tinapple ,
Jeannie – I could only get the second set of tutorial links to work. It may not be your computer.
ct
Kathi ,
wow….just wow!
Melanie West ,
Holy Smokes!!! My brain is spinning! How did he plan those canes out? And HOW did he make those numbers “spin” within his canes? Bravo David! Zounds!
doreen kassel ,
This is exciting & masterful!
Nancy Travers ,
Mind-boggling is absolutely accurate! And you do have to watch several times to make sense — the tutorials at the bottom really help. Regards, nt
Tory Hughes ,
More than a must-watch, this inspiring video reminds us of how exquisitely personalizable this medium is! And what happens when you follow your own intuition and let deep play take over.
Susan L- thanks for reminder to watch the how-he-does-it clips.
Fabulous! Thank you Cynthia and Susan Hyde for getting this out there.
Camille ,
Wow! Watching that video brought back so many childhood memories. I watched all those shows growing up and I never knew the effects were done with clay. Amazing!
Craig Massey ,
That was truly incredible.
How on earth does someone learn to think like that?
Lisa Clarke ,
I’ve experimented with the idea of canes that change like that as you slice them, but not in such a deliberate and mind-blowing way as this! WOW.