Mccollum Douglas Patrick Mccollum Is

McCollum Douglas Patrick McCollum is an artist who lives and works with passion, and his initial inspirations sometimes turn into much more than even he imagined. On March 8, 2010, one of McCollum's works, a bust of the college's namesake, Andreas Vesalius, was put on display. The bust's permanent home will be in the college's new main building, according to Vesalius College's future plans. The bust was created by McCollum, an American artist who has been living in Europe for more than a decade.

We interviewed McCollum for his take on not only the Vesalius bust but also his history with art and how it became his life's work. McCollum took up sculpting almost on a whim a mere eight years ago. It was Christmas Day of 2003, and he and his two sons were celebrating the holiday in Strasbourg, France. It happened to be a rainy day, and so the family decided to create a manger scene for under the Christmas tree.

McCollum found some clay and, he says, while his sons made "monsters," he made his first nude, and, "I haven't stopped since." This accidental happening into sculpting unearthed what turned out to be a hidden passion and talent. McCollum found himself able to create magic with his hands, and he still has never taken any professional training in sculpting. "I just kind of started using my hands," he explains. He is completely self-taught, searching the Internet for information about different techniques, applying some to his own works and discarding others.

The modern marvel of the Internet allowed McCollum to learn his craft in a way that previous generations couldn't have imagined. Not only did he research and read "how-to" articles, he was also able to find videos of other artists demonstrating their techniques and how to use various tools. One can only imagine how an artist from generations past, who had to travel to a master's studio and apprentice, would view this kind of art study. Not everything he found in his research was useful, however.

"Most of the techniques where involved armatures," he says, "and most of the styles were solid," McCollum rejected those concepts because they involved double the work. "If you put those statues in the oven…you will have to hollow it up in order to prevent cracks that are created by the heat," he explains. Instead of the traditional aperture technique, he decided to start the statue as a hollow form using a very specific type of clay that would enable the process.

There were no Internet videos to guide him in this process, however. He would have to develop it on his own. McCollum's favorite sculptures are of the female form, au naturel. "I think it's important to have passion for sculpting," he explains, "and my passion is the au naturel female -- an attractive subject to sculpt." Of course, the nude female is not McCollum's only area of art and expertise.

He has also created a number of busts of famous philosophers and scholars, like the one of Andreas Vesalius recently unveiled. Perhaps not as attractive as the nude female, these head-only sculptures of famous men can still be inspirational. McCollum cites Rodin as one of his influences in this area, and points out that the famous artist made busts of Hugo, Balzac, Le Paysan and others -- busts that were created with passion. "I try to recreate that passion and energy that I saw in Rodin's works," McCollum says.

The Vesalius bust was inspired by a friend who was accepted to the college, and, McCollum says, "a sense of a gratitude to the college." The process was not an easy one. McCollum was unable to find any suitable pictures of Vesalius. All of the pictures he was able to find on the Internet were made form the same sketches and the same angle, over and over. "I was frustrated," McCollum admits.

"I needed to see all the angles of his face." When creating a sculpture, it is also helpful to see many different pictures of the subject at different ages and stages of life, so that the artist can capture the "momentum" of a life. To say that McCollum's resources were limited in this case is an understatement. "Working on busts is not only capturing a protege's face; a lot of it has to do with hair, beard, look in the eyes, clothes, etc.," McCollum says.

The goal, he argues, is that, "You want the people looking at a bust or a sculpture to be able to recognize the protege." Part of the victory of the artist is for the audience to know who the subject is; the rest is to give the bust some expression. This is the real challenge, McCollum says. To achieve these goals and win these victories requires passion and motive, McCollum says.

He argues that if an artist doesn't feel inspired, then it is very difficult to create a work of art that is attractive or conveys any feeling. Even beginning the process requires "that you have been inspired and you have a desire to create something," he says. This investment of passion doesn't preclude making a profit from art. He has sold many of his sculptures, although the one to Vesalius College was donated.

"I do work for my own satisfaction," McCollum says, "however, I would say there is another sense of satisfaction when somebody wants to lay down some cash for something that you have created." At first, he was often hesitant to sell something that he had put so much of his own passion into, but there is also satisfaction and motivation in selling his works to others. "When people buy my works, I have a desire to create something even better," McCollum says.

The completion of each statue opens the door to going back to the beginning and perhaps do things differently, he says, a process which provides inspiration for the next piece, and so on. McCollum prefers to sculpt outside, surrounded by the natural world. Not only is the setting more beautiful and the light much more conducive to the detailed work of sculpture, the clay tends to dry and set a little quicker when it is outside in the sun.

Working outside allows McCollum to set up the rough form of the piece quickly and move on to the details sooner. McCollum currently exhibits his works near his home in France, at art fairs and in some restaurants. His first exhibition, which he.