video
THE RELUCTANT MUSE
directed by Amy Waddell
1996 - 57 minutes
A fascinating exploration of the relationship between work and the passion for one's career and how men and women work out the balance between these two factors in the context of their shared lives together. An excellent film for courses in women's studies and American culture, as well as anthropology classes dealing with kinship, mariage and the family, gender relations, and art.
Rising: The Art and Life of John Waddell is the inspiring story of an artist who resisted modern trends to stay true to the human form, the painful losses that decision cost him and the immeasurable treasures many have gained.
Told by 15 models including the filmmaker, in rarely filmed nude modeling sessions, the film chronicles the moving story of a determined, prolific American sculptor. Working on the periphery of the contemporary art world for 50 years, he shunned commercial success, enduring enormous personal setbacks and thriving without the help of critics.
The film chronicles Waddell's unique process first evident in That Which Might Have Been his seminal work honoring 4 girls killed in the Birmingham, Alabama Church Bombing of 1963, through his 2008 completion of the 28-figure relief Rising, inspired by 9/11, that champions the human spirit and asserts his philosophy, "The Beauty of Individual Difference.
seminal work hono