sculpture organizations, and more

[fritchie]

In a post (http://sculpture.net/community/showthread.php?s=&postid=2269#post2269) a few days ago, I noted that the Members’ Portfolio section on the ISC (International Sculpture Center) website includes 688 sculptors, of whom 428 explicitly identify their address as U. S., but that other matters suggest that about 92 - 93 percent of the listings, or about 635 listings, should be credited to the U. S., with Canada having the next largest number, 18. I was trying to find approximately what type of work sculptors do, in general.

Of course, ISC is a traditional, paper- and subscription-based organization. It occurred to me shortly later that the forum here is intrinsically web-based and has no membership fees, so it probably includes a much wider range of fields as well as a more widespread membership. I can’t find a quick way in the forum itself to get answers to these questions, but maybe Russ has background information he typically doesn’t post, for reasons of simplicity. I’ll see if he has countries and possibly preferred fields of work of the 932 current members.

In the meanwhile, another view on all this: How do people see various sculpture organizations, on a national, regional, or local level? Do you find them valuable, and what is/are the greatest benefit(s)?

[sculptor]

In a post (http://sculpture.net/community/showthread.php?s=&postid=2269#post2269) a few days ago, I noted that the Members’ Portfolio section on the ISC................

In the meanwhile, another view on all this: How do people see various sculpture organizations, on a national, regional, or local level? Do you find them valuable, and what is/are the greatest benefit(s)?

In the first part---numerology....
at 1st glance it would seem that you are seeking a qualitative analisys from quantitative data.............

on the 2nd part, "greatest benefit(s)?"........in broad strokes, the company of peers and the inclusive nature embodied therein, would be the greatest;
this involves, sharing of dilemmas, ideas, doubts, techniques, resources..silliness and companionship...with folks that understand something about us that seems to elude many non artists.
Years ago, I belonged to the national sculpture society, the art institute, chicago artists coalition, was a founding member of the bucktown arts festival and on the committee of another, and to one degree or another they all fulfilled some of the above points------then there were the groups associated with my mentors who gave more on a personal level, because we saw the work together,and the bodylanguage, and how long the gaze, and where it led, added a wealth of knowledge to the words which expanded their value almost exponentially.
Though the divisive descriptive terms (man-woman-figurative-abstract--etc.) seem to hold a certain fascination....
I feel that when we are all thinking inclusively of ourselves as artists all, we serve the muse/art/craft/god/etc. best.