We at Origin Park are beyond excited to welcome local sculptor Joe Autry to the park to lead a stone carving workshop October 14-15. Joe works with wood, metal, stone, ice, snow and pretty much anything a person can carve, and you can see his work in outdoor spaces all over the Louisville area. We recently sat down with him for, well, a cup of Joe, to talk.

What brought you to the world of sculpture?

I was naturally born curious about things. I’ve created things since I was a child, was always building things. Then I had a high school art teacher that claimed that I had a vision that I couldn’t see (Paula Bortka, North Harrison High School). I was always picking projects outside of the curriculum. I actually dropped her class. Then I came back and rejoined it. Then she asked if I wanted to have an apprenticeship with David Kocka out of Laconia, Indiana. Whatever I was inspired to do she was like, go.

Did you ever go back and tell her that she was the one who set you on that path? Because that really matters to a teacher, you know.

Yes, we keep in touch.

How does a sculpture take place? How does it go from a paper sketch to three dimensions?

When I first started working in carving, I would freestyle the whole thing – it was always abstract but it would always take me a long time to execute those projects because I didn’t know where the project was going or how it was going to end – I would just keep carving. Then after creating for years I realized that having a map – a sketch – just gets me to the point faster, gets me to that expression quicker. The reality is that improvisation comes regardless because the tree has its own characteristics. So I save my improvisation for those moments. I work the most in wood because it’s the most available.

How do you know when a piece is finished?

My body just lets me know – it says “you cannot work on this anymore.” It’ll literally start hurting and the inspiration will just go away. Visually I have to be able to see it’s a complete composition and then my body responds to it – my mind thinks, I’m finished, and my body says you know what, me too. You can only take a project so far before it’s done.

I can see a lot of mythologies represented in your work. Could you talk about that?

I love mythological stories. The beauty of mythology and legends is they never really die and they’re always universal. I explore those forms and those stories. I don’t really try to stick to any particular mythology or particular legend, I just try to express it through the sculpture.

You’re an artist who works with natural materials – you take objects like huge dead trees and transform them into something else altogether -- but in what other ways does nature inspire your work? Patterns, textures, colors?

All of the above! Everything is nature, even manmade things come from nature, it’s just something humans produce. I like what’s going on with technology and mixing some sort of technological ideas with the natural and wild -- the tame and untamed.

Are most of your works your own vision, or do you get a lot of commissions for specific pieces?

Sometimes I do get a theme – the clients or patrons have a theme in mind, but ultimately they give me the freedom to find that theme and put my own spin on it.  



Why should people come to your workshop?

If anyone is looking into being a creator, now’s the time. We need more creators in this culture, we have a lot to express, and we can really shape our own lives. That’s the beauty of sculpture – you can shape your own life into whatever you want. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it.

Joe’s workshop takes place Oct. 14-15 at Origin Park’s Mural House. You can find out details and register for the event here: https://givebutter.com/LLeXCf