Artist Quintin McCann
Congratulations to Quintin McCann for earning his place a Winner in the Boynes Monthly Art Award [May Edition]!
Who are you?
I am a husband and father of three small children. My family is everything to me. They are the reason I continue to work hard and push forward in my career, and they are also the reason I take days off. I first developed my interest in art by watching my mom and oldest brother draw. At a very young age, drawing and skill development have been very important to me. Since I was about 8 years old, I tried my best to copy their drawings, sort of like master copies at an elementary level. My mom and brother weren’t masters but they were definitely above average for artists their age and I wanted to be as skilled as them.
From then on, drawing became a source of self-confidence and fulfillment for me. It wasn’t until after I graduated college to become a high school art teacher that I sought professional guidance in my art. I pursued local full-time artists that I thought had the most to offer and I started to learn from them. Since then, I began to create and sell oil paintings and sculptures.
“Augustus Saint-Gaudens”
Original Clay Sculpture
By Quintin McCann
What inspired you to utilize sculpture as a medium?
It started when I had an enjoyable experience taking my first sculpture class. I experimented in sculpture by curing a class at Brigham Young University. In the class we sculpted a model from life for a total of 20 hours. I had convinced my identical twin brother to take the modeling job thinking it might make the experience easier for me. I was pleased with how it turned out, and we had some fun with the sculpture afterwards. I made a mold of the sculpture then melted 5 pounds of gummy bears and cast a gummy version of my brother. Later that year, I cast chocolate heads of him to give to friends and family as a joke for Christmas. This was a fun learning experience for me and it returned the feeling of self-confidence and fulfillment I felt drawing as a kid so I decided to pursue that.
“Ernie Pyle”
Painted Resin Sculpture
By Quintin McCann
How would you describe your work?
I am mostly interested in simple straight forward portraits. The person I am representing is more important than the artwork itself, and I try to make that clear in my work. I work towards capturing the likeness of the person I am sculpting or painting. I want the viewer who sees the portrait to feel like they are almost meeting the person in the artwork. I try to convey a sense of their personality and significance. As my skill level continues to improve, my ability to accomplish this goal is starting to become more of a reality. This journey of mastery is still not near the end, if and end of such a path even exists.
“John J. McCann”
Painted Resin Sculpture
By Quintin McCann
Can you discuss the inspiration and thought process behind your winning work?
This portrait was sculpted during a live model session near my hometown. Normally a sculpture created in this setting is intended for practice and it will eventually dry, crack, and get thrown away or at most preserved poorly. This piece meant more to me than usual and I felt it was destined for more. I carefully cut it in half, hollowed it out, and put it back together in preparation for a kiln firing. I faithfully did everything I knew so that it would survive being fired in the kiln, which turned out not to be enough.
The piece broke in multiple pieces and I was momentarily discouraged. When I remembered the Kintsugi technique, I was immediately reanimated and more excited than ever to put this piece back together and on display. The cracks were healed in the repair process but they were not hidden. The piece was given new life, and in truth, since I used an epoxy clay, it became stronger than before. After all that my sculpture and I experienced, it gained the title “Resilience”.
“Resilience”
Stoneware & Paint Sculpture
By Quintin McCann
Can you walk us through the technical steps of creating “Resilience”?
This portrait was sculpted while observing a model from life. When sculpting a portrait in water-based clay, I use my hands as much as I can. I like to feel the clay as much as possible and my hands are the most versatile sculpture tools I own. I started by taking some measurements using calipers. When the sculpting began, I focused on symmetry and bone structure. I tried to ignore facial features for a while like the eyes, nose and mouth. After the proportions and structure were established, I added hair and facial features. During the entire sculpture process, my hands and the biggest loop tool I had were used the most.
When sculpting a portrait, I try to make the biggest movements I can with my hands and tools to prevent me from getting caught up in details. Only later, I add a limited amount of detail that doesn’t take too much attention from the piece as a whole. After the piece broke in the kiln, I remembered the Kintsugi technique and immediately visualized how I wanted this piece to look in the end. I put it back together using epoxy clay. Later I used a variety of colors of spray paint for a base coat and then touched things up with acrylic paint. Last I painted the filled in cracks with gold paint.
“Resilience” (WIP)
Stoneware & Paint Sculpture
By Quintin McCann
What do you hope to communicate to an audience with your work?
I hope to communicate that the worth of a human soul is great. Positive and meaningful interactions with other humans is where we find the most joy and fulfillment in this life. I believe we need to respect ourselves and others while acting in a way that earns respect from our neighbors. My artwork mostly consists of portraits of people that my clients admire, or personal projects of people who have made an impact on my life. It is important to take the time to honor and thank the good people in our lives.
“4hr NSS Competition 3rd Place”
Water Based Clay Sculpture
By Quintin McCann
Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of creating your work?
When I started taking my clay sculptures to my mentor for critiques, he gave me a warning about his critique process. He asked if I had thick skin and how important improving by ability really was to me. I responded and told him that I will do whatever it takes to make progress. He then said, “good” and in seconds began to undo what had taken me hours and days to create. He clearly showed and explained my errors to me and helped me understand why and how they needed to be fixed if I wanted to succeed as a sculptor. The first time I received a critique from him I was shocked but determined to learn and improve. Since then, I have been more dedicated to improve my sculpting abilities and myself as a person. I have learned that I need to willingly seek correction, honestly contemplate on where I currently stand, and consistently work for improvement.
“Russell M. Nelson”
Original Clay Sculpture
By Quintin McCann
Can you discuss your biggest success since starting your artistic journey?
My biggest success was from a personal piece of mine. I mentioned earlier that I like to sculpt people who have made an impact on my life. Dr. Jordan B. Peterson’s teaching and philosophy has helped me to become a better man, husband, father, son, brother, neighbor, artist, teacher, citizen, and so on. I decided to create a small half-life bust of him as a personal project. As I shared progress pictures of my work on Instagram some of his fans started tagging him in the comments. Eventually Dr. Peterson found and shared my work on his social media. This brought a lot of his fans over to my page and they started asking about purchasing copies of the piece. I then made a mold and reproduced a limited edition of the piece. Once it became available, it sold out in 5 hours to customers from 11 different countries. The edition was discontinued to honor my promise to my customers but there were still a lot of people who were too slow to purchase one and wanted one. I ended up sculpting a second variation and continue to sell that edition today. This was a moment that made me realize my work had value as long as I kept my high standards and I continued to sculpt portraits of people who were important to me.
“Dr. Jordan B. Peterson”
Original Clay Sculpture
By Quintin McCann
Can you give us a piece of advice you wish you had known at the start of your career?
I wish I had realized earlier that my potential is limitless and the biggest obstacle in the way is myself. I learned over time, and am continuing to learn, that I need to get my life in order and not let fear be a ruler over me. If I lack certain knowledge or skills, I can’t pretend they aren’t important to develop or wait around for someone to give them to me. I have to go out, hunt it down, and struggle until they becomes a part of me.
What projects are you working on currently?
I am working on a master copy of Bernini’s Salvator Mundi.
A client of mine was looking for a reproduction of the piece but couldn’t find a good one. He hired me to make one and it’s been a challenging but enjoyable experience so far. I plan to complete the piece by the end of June 2023. I’ll be making a bronze copy for my client, one for myself, and I’ll be selling a small limited number of additional copies, anyone reading this may contact me if interested in what will be a rare and limited reproduction of a beautiful and meaningful piece.
“Salvator Mundi After Bernini WIP”
Oil Based Clay Sculpture
By Quintin McCann
What is your dream project or piece you hope to accomplish?
I’m still early in my career and have only created small easily transportable pieces. Someday I hope to get into making larger sculptures. I would love to work my way towards being hired to create public bronze monuments.
As a winner, do you have any advice for artists who want to submit to awards, competitions, residencies, etc.?
Definitely apply to absolutely everything you possibly can that is free, there’s no harm in trying. You might claim that rejection is harmful, but I would say that you need to learn to become familiar with and accept rejection without letting it harm you. Applying to free competitions is a great way to develop that skill. Also, apply to everything you can that has a small application fee. Don’t be afraid of application fees even if you’ve experienced a lot of rejection, I’ve noticed that it has helped me to take things more seriously as I move forward, and that’s worth more than losing a little bit of money. If you keep trying, learning, and improving, you will find success, just be patient. I recently competed in the National Sculpture Society’s live speed sculpting competition. I was awarded 3rd place which was a great achievement for me. 5 years of failure and rejection accompanied with me trying, learning, and improving preceded that accomplishment.
“Self Portrait WIP”
Oil Based Clay Sculpture
By Quintin McCann
Lastly, I like to ask everyone what advice they would give to their fellow artists, what is your advice?
First off, never think that improvement isn’t important, in your art and as a person. Learn to be content with where you’re at now, while still sincerely seeking and actually making improvement.
Second, when making major and minor decisions in life, consult the future you. This is something I learned from Jordan Peterson whom I mentioned earlier. You are not an individual, you are a community of your past and future selves. The opinion of the future you can bring guidance, try to imagine what that opinion might be. For me personally, I know that the future me would tell the past and current me to never sacrifice my family or my potential family on the altar of my career. Making art is such an important, almost all-consuming, part of me that will be with me forever and I’ll never be able to fully understand or explain why. It’s still nothing when compared to the family I was born to, and the family I have created with my wife. My past self would always remind me to continually pursue the activities that bring confidence and fulfillment to my life. Please, as you’re living the moment, think about what’s important to the future you, and be willing to make sacrifices you will appreciate down the line. Think deeply about it, and the direction you move forward in life will be a better one.
To view more of Quintin McCann