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Don Haggerty    Sculpture        Gallery II

Most people, when viewing my sculptures, aren't aware of the huge influence calligraphy has had on my work.  Chinese calligraphy, in particular.

While growing up in Taiwan, I studied the Chinese language every year, from the time I was in first grade, all the way through high school.  For some reason, though, I never really learned to read Chinese.  What I did learn, however, was to intuitively understand the exacting and "correct" order of each stroke that makes up the characters of the Chinese language--an order, by the way, that was "choreographed" over many millennia for a very particular dancer--the Chinese brush.

Having the stroke order so ingrained in me, I can't help but love to gaze at works of Chinese calligraphy, bringing back to life the calligrapher's brush as I relive with my eyes the creation of each character.

Today, while creating my sculptures, and again while viewing the finished works, my eyes fall into the same cherished habit of tracing the lines that border each figure, just as though each line had been put in place by the delicate dance of a Chinese brush.

--Don Haggerty

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   All Images Copyright © 2012 Don Haggerty

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