“These are some of the small sculptures I made during my first spurt of excitement working with clay. (I made the vase and flowers too.) Rod made the little chair for the nude sitting on it but she was pretty well smashed up when a window-washer I employed knocked over a standing lamp that kicked her off the chair. The recumbent one is on a shelf upstairs but I’ve no idea where the rest of them went. I probably gave them away.”
One doesn’t have to look too far to realize that miniature sculptures are the joy of many people. These miniature pieces are reminiscent of sculptured maquettes in preparation for larger works. The maquettes are where poses are worked out in miniature because attempting varying poses of a figure full size is almost a practical impossibility because of the weight and the fragility of the material at that size. One needs a very large studio space and a lot of time to sculpt a much larger figure. It is obvious that Joy put considerable thought into her poses as they are difficult to decide upon.
