Q&A: Sculptor Bradley Paige launches an art show and book at Classic Art Gallery today.

"When devastation becomes deliverance," sculptor Paige Bradley writes in her artist statement, "ashes from the past can become the foundations of the future."

That might be a reference to a piece she sculpted of a woman in a yoga pose called "Expansion." When she encountered opposition in New York to her figurative work (the prevailing mode was abstract), she smashed the sculpture on the ground. But she reconstructed it, leaving fissures in the body, out of which light shone through, like the figure's essence seeking to break out of the body.

Bradley was in London when she answered some questions for the Weekly. She's in town now for the opening of her solo retrospective show and book launch 5-8pm today, July 19, at Classic Art Gallery (SW corner of Ocean and Sixth, Carmel, 625-0464, www.classicartgallery.com).

Weekly: What is it about sculpting that made you choose it (or it choose you)? 

Paige Bradley: I always drew, but once I touched clay I knew what I was meant to do.  I love the way that form and space co-exist.  Both are better for it.  Form and Space are the Yin and the Yang, and if sculpted with an appreciation of empty space, than it (space) can be filled with a form that is harmonious to it (space).   The human figure lends itself to aesthetic form well, plus it is a great vehicle for communication of the human condition.

What do you think about when sculpting?

I'm focused; I only think about the moment I am in.  I enter a vacuum where time does not exist and outside thoughts are removed.  I play music and sometimes I talk to the model.  But if I need to focus, then I stay in silence until I know I have it right.  When I am by  myself, I crank up the music and focus.  When I take a break to look back, I might even start singing to the music.  That is when I look up at the clock and realize that 5 minutes has turned into 5 hours!

What human emotions do we possess today that Michelangelo didn't get to tap into? 

AHhhh- you have found a question that my work focuses on.  

We live in a world of chaos that never sleeps.  Technology keeps us always ON and connected all over the world.  We are constantly linked up and immediately judged.  We are forced to expose ourselves and do so often. Most societies are not controlled by the church as they were during Michelangelo's time either, thus, we are freer to speak, and often more daring and uninhibited.  I am not sure this fast pace and all this exposure is a good thing.  It adds a lot of stress and I imagine the human brain can only take so much.  Thus, I try to find a place where I can breathe peacefully. And sometimes that is even the subject of my work.

What's your work at Classic Art Gallery going to be consist of? 

Recent work and work that is Expanding, metamorphosing, falling and releasing their confines.  A lot of psychoanalysis of the human condition.  I always love to discuss the viewer's feelings about the work, so I hope you can make the show and tell me what you think!

You were born in Carmel. Do you come back often?

Two or three times a year. My still Mom lives in Carmel Valley in the house we built when I was three. 

What was the genesis of this show at Classic Art Gallery?

It was time!  After three years off to start a family, I needed to come back. And I did so quite intensely.  It was as if I was storing it all up inside.  I never actually took time off though; I had a solo show in Singapore in 2010 and a few group shows in London and various other places.  Classic was my starting point.  They will always be my flagship location and the town of my first supporters.  Plus, I get loads of help from Monterey Sculpture Center, Brian Moneypenny (creative tech.) and Mr. and Mrs. Pharaoh (photography and advertising), who are all locals and great friends.  They have helped me launch this show with ease and class.  I am very grateful to everyone involved.

Why did you move to London?

Love.  I met my husband in NYC and he was transferred to London for work. He asked me to come with him in order to start a family.  And that is exactly what we did!

With this show, billed as a retrospective, and the book launch, it seems a good marker for looking back. What do you think about your career thus far?  

Exactly!  Glad you got that.  I think I have worked consistently since I was 20 years old, to get exactly where I am.  I am grateful for all my supporters along the way.   Academically and Technically, I think I have achieved what I wanted to, though once can always improve.  Creatively, I still have a long way to go.  I am starting to allow myself more freedom and expression. Perhaps my future work will be more suggestive and less literal.  Also, the more mature and experienced I get, the more I have to say and the less I feel bound to rules.  

Two of Carmel's more prominent sculptors are Richard MacDonald and Steven Whyte. Do you know them or have worked with them?  

I have worked closely with both of them.  I started with Richard when I was 20 years old, back in the Summer of 1994.  In 2000, I was Richard's production manager and that is when he brought Steven in from the U.K.  Steven was a wonderful asset to Richard's team back then.  I am very proud of Steven and all he has accomplished after leaving the studio many years ago.  It was a very intense place to be and many apprentices had a tough time thriving under such intensity.  But there was so much to learn from Richard that could only be understood by personal sacrifice and hard work.  Those of us who gave our most, got a strong footing in our career.

You'll be at the opening reception. What else will you do locally?  

My favorite things! I miss the area so much.  A walk in Point Lobos, wine tasting in Carmel Valley, a swim at Chamisal, a haircut at HeadGames, some shopping at Augastina Leathers, a picnic at Earthbound Farms, Carmel Beach, and generally anything outdoors with my kids (age 2 and 4).