Jim Henderson

Tell us a little about your background.

In high school I took every shop course I could (that was in the 1950s when they were offered as a standard part of the curriculum). My hands were an important part of my brain, with their own need for expression. Schools taught with words; I thought with my hands. I fondly remember the metals shop, which was lined with coal-fired forges.

After high school I went to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,  but flunked out after two years. So I joined the Marine Corps and eventually wound up at Norwich University, a military school in Vermont—the only school that would accept me. I later transferred to UMass Amherst and majored in Zoology and Chemistry. I did very well and upon graduating with honors, became a professional student bouncing around from philosophy to psychology graduate programs. To pay my way through, I worked as a furniture maker, making early American pine reproductions.

After getting married I found a “real” job as a physiological research assistant at the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, D.C. They hired me because I was able to fabricate much of the equipment needed for research. Among other things, we researched the brain waves of schizophrenics and I built the cabinets that housed the electronics. For some reason, I started making sculpture in our basement studio apartment—nude plaster and concrete figures. The molds soaked in the bath tub. My wife was not pleased. 

Very soon I realized that a 9-5 job 12 months a year was not going to cut it for me, so I applied to graduate schools for teaching. Harvard University’s Biology department accepted me on a National Defense Educational Act (NDEA) scholarship. Once there, I knew that Biology was not in my future, and I transferred to their “Visual and Environmental Studies” major, which was Harvard’s answer to Art.

Fortunately, I enrolled in an independent study with Mirko Basaldella, an internationally known sculptor and head of the Carpenter Center. Sculpture has been my passion ever since. To support my family of 4 children, I taught public school. With a schedule of 6 hours a day and only 180 days a year, I was able to devote full time to my art. 

Where do you find inspiration?

For me inspiration comes from an inner need to create objects that satisfy a desire to “see” what I feel inside. I know what I want to see on a subconscious level and keep trying to find it. Over the years I’ve gotten close but never really found it.  So I make more, and more, and more. I’m still working.

What is your favorite medium?

My original material was wood because it was cheap (we had no money). It was what I knew. In the early 70s I often got large logs for free. Local tree departments were more than happy to get rid of the trees they cut down due to Dutch Elm Disease. Over the years, colleagues would call me a “materials slut” because I worked with so many different materials. I carved wood, became good at it, then realized it was not what I was looking for. After taking a night course in welding at the local vocational school, I moved on to steel and forged iron. Then I moved to stone, and then combined them together at different times. Fortunately, I’m back to wood now with enough money to have my work cast in bronze.

Can you describe your process?

My process is  simple. I read somewhere that Michelangelo was asked how he made his sculptures. I think he said that he would keep knocking off pieces until they looked right. Whether he said it or not, that is what I do.

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