THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610190061
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 91 lines
ALTHOUGH THEY are cast in stone, their mouths immovable, the many faces of Hal Weaver have much to say to those willing to listen.
``God Mask Version 1.3'' testifies to the immensity of the human spirit, while the squashed-totem image of ``High Hat Man'' alludes to the depths into which the soul can be plunged.
What is to be interpreted from any of his creations is all in the eye of the beholder, says Weaver, whose bas-relief sculptures will be exhibited at this weekend's Stockley Gardens Fall Arts Festival.
Weaver is one of more than 135 artists who will display their work today and Sunday at the outdoor Ghent show. The event benefits Hope House Foundation, a Norfolk non-profit agency that provides support services for people with mental retardation.
The festival also features live music, specialty foods and children's activities.
Weaver said those who view his unique cast and chiseled representations often say to him, `` `I know this isn't what you meant to say, but. . . ' ''
``They think they have to `get it,' but I like to leave room for the audience to bring something to it - get them thinking. The art itself should be the beginning of the dialogue,'' said the 31-year-old award-winning Norfolk artist.
If any one of the trio of 3-foot-high, 85-pound masks that make up Weaver's God Mask Series were to be dug from the earth ages hence, the finder would likely surmise that the artifact ``had belonged to something very large, like a god,'' Weaver said.
``It's created mythology,'' he said.
Weaver's sculptures are made from hydrocal, a concrete-like substance.
``God Mask Version 1.3'' - and its companion pieces, versions 1.2 and 1.1 - each required about 50 hours, or three weeks, to complete. Starting with a wooden frame, Weaver stretches burlap to cover, then applies the modeling material, letting it set up between layers. Then, when it's dry, he uses chisels and power tools to sculpt the piece into final form. Acrylic paints add the finishing touch of color.
``It's a real physical medium,'' he said. ``It's like sports to me. From the guts.''
From childhood, Weaver has been drawn to visual representation. In the third grade, he'd sit at the back of the classroom doodling behind his carefully positioned text book.
At 18, his creativity found an outlet in theatrical makeup, but the fleeting nature of that art form came home to him when he watched the actors and actresses wash his labors down the drain at performances' end.
So he quite naturally turned to more permanent facial representations.
``I wanted to have them to keep,'' he said.
At first, when Weaver began selling his sculptures, he had a hard time parting with them. But then, when friends and acquaintances began bringing him photographs of his work hanging in their homes, he felt re-connected to his creations.
``It's like letting children go out into the real world,'' Weaver said.
Hanging in the sun to dry on his deck are four molded heads that, judging by their diminutive size and wide-eyed expressions, might be the shrunken booty of a head hunter.
Inside, in Weaver's Ash Lawn Drive studio, is propped ``The Politician,'' a cartoonish creation with wide-spread mouth inhabited by a whimsical face to show that ``they're all possessed by souls of psychotic clowns,'' said the artist.
``It's about faces,'' he said, giving a quick tour of his apartment. From almost every vertical and horizontal surface, a face stares out.
Even ``Shad'' and ``Chub'' - sculpted fish so primitive they look like fossils - are face-focused, their bulbous white eyes and rows of teeth standing out ominously from the rough gray of their bodies.
``In Expressionism, the face is the psychic center of everything,'' said the artist.
``Doing art is the best way I have of re-connecting with the endless blue sky of my childhood imagination,'' Weaver said. ``Simply playing with clay is the closest thing to religious meditation I have found, and aside from the love of family and friends, it's just about the best thing I know.'' ILLUSTRATION: JIM WALKER
Sculptor Hal Weaver with his ``God Mask Version 1.3.'' His works
will be on display at the Stockley Gardens Art Festival.
WANT TO GO?
What: Stockley Gardens Fall Arts Festival
Where: Stockley Gardens Park, corner of Stockley Gardens and
Olney Roads in Ghent section of Norfolk
When: Today, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
Why: To benefit Hope House Foundation, a Norfolk non-profit
organization providing support services to people with mental
retardation
Who: Sponsored by Miller Oil Co., Mobil Oil Corp., Cox
Communications, Port Folio Magazine and 92.9 WFOG; hosted by Hope
House Foundation.
KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW PROFILE by CNB