SELF PORTRAIT

Michael Warrick

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: Oct. 1, 1950, Ottawa, Ill.

MY PARENTS WANTED ME TO BE who I best could be. They didn’t dictate what I should be.

MY FAVORITE CHILDHOOD TOY WAS my imagination, and that still holds true.

IF I HADN’T BECOME A SCULPTOR, I WOULD HAVE BEEN a builder of some kind — a builder of places — I think houses.

THE FIRST ART I SOLD WAS: I sold my first drawings to my dad for a quarter. He’d say, “I like that one. Do another.”

IN A GAME OF “SCISSORS, PAPER, ROCK,” I CHOOSE paper. It’s a fundamentally important tool for me. Second choice, I’d say stone because I love to carve in stone.

OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, MY FAVORITE IS pride.

SOMETHING I TELL MY STUDENTS IS the more time you invest in something, the stronger your interest. If you’re just there to knock it out, then find something you’re passionate about and do that instead.

I WOULD OR WOULD NOT BE THE MAN TO RESTORE VENUS DE MILO’S ARMS: I would, because first of all, I’d want to research technically how to do it right, how to integrate [new arms] with the rest of her.

THE SCULPTURE OF MINE INSTALLED THE FARTHEST AWAY FROM LITTLE ROCK IS in China, on the other side of the world.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DECORATION AND A SCULPTURE IS the difference between a backdrop and life.

ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE ME: determined