Mark Oxman, Resident Artist Lecture 1972

Mark Oxman gives a lecture at Skowhegan talking about his sculptural practice. Oxman’s sculptural works are inspired by his interest in the figure. Oxman discusses the distinctions between modeling and sculpting, which he identifies as being separate fields in European conceptions of art, with Oxman preferring to be called a modeler rather than a sculptor. Oxman works in a variety of materials and states that his need to expand into different materials was inspired by his time as a participant at Skowhegan in the 1960s as well as his time studying sculpture in England. Some of the sculptural mediums Oxman explores includes welding, bronze, clay, salt, and aluminum powder. Oxman explores both figurative and abstract mediums in his sculptural practice. Oxman ends the lecture by telling the participants that the only thing that counts as art is when something becomes personal, for art should be something one does that nobody else can do.