Daniele Found interviews
Patrick Masson
ps. sorry for the echo effect voice of Patrick,
some technical problems while I'm recording it
The interview
When I try to explain it to people it's hard to explain what your job is.
How do you explain it to people "what is your job"?
I start by saying that I am a sculptor and then I simply explain that I sculpt "small sculptures" (laughs)
Last year in Monte San Savino, I discovered that you've 3 children. Right?
Yes exactly.
You are 25 right?
(Laughs) 25 would be fine
I am 44 years old now.
ok, tell us what is your secret?Sculpting?
(laughs) I don't know!
I think it's something in my family, in genetics.
A genetic thing?
Yes, my mother, my father, are the same.
Ok let's start. What did you study before becoming a sculptor?
I studied Mechanical Engineering.
Like Roman (Van Den Bogaert see interview here) who left the university after his university career.Many artists have done the same thing.
I worked 10 years as a mechanical engineer
When did you think, "I want my job to be sculpting something"?
Well, I started playing with polymer clay when I was 15. And I had fun, and I started making gifts for my family and friends.
How many years ago?
Well about 29 years ago. While I was in college, I played with some modeling clay. The play doh.
But was it a hobby?
Yes, while I was studying, I sculpted as a hobby, but when I started working I didn't have much time to sculpt.
What year did you graduate?
I believe in 1998
And did you start sculpting after college?
I've done some small commissions for a small company
How did you manage to get commissions, since you didn't sculpt during college?
I think it was bad, but it was enough at that time. Then I made 3 little dragons.
So you were an engineer by day and a sculptor by afternoon?
Yes, but I only made 3 pieces in a year.
But it wasn't your job at the time.
But it wasn't an action you were doing for the money, right? It was passion
Then I moved to Belgium, again as an engineer. And I continued in my free time to sculpt things from pictures and photos that I liked.Then for personal reasons, I quit my job, for other reasons.
It was a bit of a weird time in my life.
Was there any problem with your job as an engineer?
No, it was the distance. I drove 4 hours every day to work. 2 on the way out and 2 on the way back. I was completely crazy.
Oh, it wasn't just a good life
And then you had a family!
Yes, indeed!
It was the safest way.
Sure, it was.
Didn't you miss sculpting?
I had other priorities at the time.
After a few years the work as an engineer did not go very well, and a lot of things went wrong.I was very frustrated, and going to work became a nightmare.§
I marked each day on the calendar to go to work.
And it was around that time that I resumed sculpting something.
I was not very aware. I wanted to sculpt for fun.
And that's how I discovered other artists doing what I did, going to competitions and shows.
Then I went to my first sculpture competition and brought my sculpture (show it in the video).
This sculpture I made for the competition, to try.
Actually it wasn't the first, the first was the rabbit (show the sculpture in the video), very different and in cartoon style.
When did you decide to permanently quit your job as an engineer?
2011 but first I started working as a "seriously" sculptor. After the competition, I had a big impact on the community and so I started to make myself known. And I got a lot of important feedback.
Then I started taking commissions while I was an engineer and tried to find time to be an engineer and a sculptor.
But at some point I was tight, I couldn't do both things correctly
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