Ronald Bladen, Resident Artist Lecture 1981

Ronald Bladen gives a lecture at Skowhegan talking about his painting and drawing practice. Bladen is interested in the interception between creating large scales and surfaces for his sculpture, drawing and painting practice. Bladen also talks about working with public art. For Bladen, public art allows him to create qualities and atmospheres in his work. Bladen is interested in industrial influences and thinking about how investing in different forms with a degree of power and adventure shapes his artistic practice. Bladen tries to bring this to his sculptures in particular. The rock is a form which Bladen always goes back to. He is interested in rocks; specifically their form and the history of geology. Bladen sees rocks having a fantasy, adventure and structural proportion that he is interested in. Bladen ends his lecture by telling participants of the importance for artists always to communicate and be in dialogue with one another, because it can be difficult for artists to sometimes communicate with the broad public.