The Ambiguous Family, part 5

While working on this sculpture over the past week, the issue of gay marriage and the question of biological determinance of homosexuality have been in the local and national news.

Boyd Packard, one of the highest-ranking Mormon church leaders, condemned same-sex marriage and insisted that same-sex attraction is a lifestyle that can be changed through prayer.  Previously, Packer had authored a pamphlet that advocated violence against gay people .  Many have criticized the LDS church’s stance on homosexuality as a contributing factor to Utah’s disproportionate rate of gay teen suicides.

Protest outside the gargantuan LDS office buildings

4500 people were estimated to attend the protest

I traveled to a silent protest orchestrated several days later in response to the LDS position on gay rights.  It struck me how many of the participants were youth from the community; my previous experience attending rallies and protests had relatively few youth participating.

In national news, the Supreme Court is also hearing a case that pits free speech against privacy in a case involving anti-gay protestors at the funeral of an American soldier killed in Iraq.

What, exactly, does all this have to do with a hunk of welded steel taking shape in my shop?  I’ve found that while working on any project I’m making thousands of decisions every minute.  Just a single brush stroke on the finish of a piece involves considering the type of brush, its angle, pressure, length, etc.  So, the decisions that surround actually fabricating sculpture multiply exponentially.

7 ft sculpture structure awaiting its skin of reclaimed pickup truck hoods

One of the larger decisions I’ve facing now deal with methods of attaching the plates of metal from the truck hoods onto the skeletal structure of the piece.  Welding, riveting, bolts – each method imparts a different visual language and emotional impact on the folks looking at the sculpture.  All of the recent news makes me lean toward attaching the plates in a way that stresses the defensive posture non-traditional families under attack have to take to protect themselves and their children.