“WOMAN IN A MAN’S WORLD”
In my ongoing work “Woman in a Man’s World” each piece is unique and has an allegorical tale to tell. I had to invent a unique bronze process in order to tell their stories adequately. As I created the pieces two evolutions were set in motion. One is the evolution of the woman depicted and their progressive stories and the second is the evolution of my creative process. As an example “La Linda” my first piece is a pretty but empty vessel; a young woman of little experience thinking only of being pretty. I made the bronze accordingly; closed, no negative space, no face and in a stiff but alluring pose. My fourth piece “Hand Maid” was created by casting my own hands which formed the entire figure telling this story. A woman creates herself out of her own hands-on work. She is also vulnerable to the touch of others and sometimes suffers from being handled. Finally in “Robot Girl/Goddeess Pose” I am using a lot of negative space. Her legs are made of small figures (pole dancers and housewives). Her belly is a rose in full bloom and she is looking down peacefully and protectively. She listened to her inner voice and realized her capacity to lead humanity through her powerful nurturing qualities.
The motivating factor in each piece has been to show on the outside what is happening on the inside, from submissiveness to power, even to showing false power (in Sakalo Dharma, number six). My work has been drawn from personal experience and is non-derivative. My major influences have come from my intimate knowledge of the free jazz movement, my year on the road literally from California to Rio de Janeiro, my life as a wife and mother and my life long participation in dance. The thesis or theme of the body of work is that women are valuable as “Woman” the givers and nurturers of life. Women should not have to do what men do to be respected and valued. On the contrary men should become more nurturing and respectful of life in order to be of value. Men should look to emulate woman in their instinctual caring capacity.
A LITTLE ABOUT SALLY
Sally Shapiro was born in 1947 in Stockton, California. Her first drawing was published in a Children’s magazine when she was 18 months old. As a child she studied piano and ballet; she was talented at both but age 14 she discovered her need to paint and do sculpture. She saw Rodin’s work in San Francisco and knew this is what she wanted to do. She left for Davenport, a small town near Santa Cruz. She was to work alone for the next twenty years during which she painted large odysseys, sculpted in paper mache, traveled to Paris with jazz musicians and spent a year in South America.
In ‘87’ she took figure sculpture from Steve Kaltenbach and ended up with her first bronze commission, “Agelessness,” a life size sculpture featured at the California State University Sacramento Children’s Center. Four years later as the wife of David Shapiro and mother of 4-year-old Davy, Sally won her 2nd bronze commission “From Warmth to Openness,” a life-size sculpture at Sacramento City College’s Bernice Clayton Child Development Center.
In 2003 the Lengyel Monument created by Sally was installed on Main Street in Georgetown, California. In 1997 Sally was asked to open an art gallery in Georgetown. “The Gallery” was a vehicle for her and other local artists to develop their work. Between 1997 and 2005 Sally showcased sculptures at Trilogy Gallery in Placerville California and “Image 13” Gallery in San Francisco. After 2005 she moved to Sacramento where she began casting “Women in a Man’s World” for display at the Art Foundry Gallery. In November 2013 Sally was a featured artist at the Temporary Contemporary Gallery in Sacramento.
Sally is now a resident artist at Kennedy Gallery, 1931 L Street in Sacramento where she shares some space with her son Davy, an avid photographer and talent in his own right.