Late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had an massive influence on the lives of the American people over her life-long career as a lawyer and judge. That impact included Wimberley resident Pam Williams.
After the death of Ginsburg, Williams, who is known for her bronze renderings, wanted to honor the Justice in her own special way.
After creating several renders, Williams wanted to donate one of the pieces of bronze renderings to the family themselves.
“So I looked up RBG’s daughter, Jan Ginsburg, who is a full time professor at Columbia University just like her mother,” Williams said. “I wrote her a note that I was really appreciative of her mother, and that I have done this artwork which I would like to give you.”
After not getting a response for almost a week, Williams received a letter from the family with a special request for her piece.
“The following Saturday I got a letter from Patrice Michaels, who is RBG’s daughter in law who is married to James Ginsburg,” Williams said. “She said that what we really want to do is that we are having an auction of the majority of her items which will benefit an organization called SOS.”
SOS Children’s Village is an organization that helps thousands of children each year through alternative care, family strengthening, education and empowerment and other community- based work.
In honor of Ginsburg, many items owned were auctioned off with the proceeds going to SOS.
“The statue was shipped out to Los Angeles where the auction happened ,” Williams said. “It ended up selling for $9,565 dollars, so that’s the story on that particular piece.”
When creating the piece, Williams wanted to express her features while also showcasing what Ginsburg loved best.
“She is very simple, and there is a special kind of simplicity especially with such a complex character,” Williams said. “She was a tiny woman, so I wanted to stress her petiteness. But sometimes people want to associate that with lack of strength, which was not her. What I did was elongated the figure, while keeping her petiteness, and surrounded her with her books, which she was a big time reader. She felt like by reading she came to what she wanted to do in life. By reading she was able to advance herself.”
An expert artist in working with bronze, Williams participates in an art that hasn’t changed in the thousands of years since artists have been able to work with bronze.
“I’ve been doing this for about nine years, and I just love working with clay,” Williams said. “It’s a complicated process, and it has not changed in over 5,000 years.”
The process starts out by making the art piece out of substance before transferring it to another.
“You make it out of clay and once it’s finished in clay, 90% of the time you take that clay, which sets up to be leather hard and not soft,” Williams said. “You take and make a mold out of it, which you put several layers of rubber over it. After putting several layers over it, and it all dries, you cut the mold, peel it open and pull the clay out.”
With the mold, the model is filled with melted wax before being peeled.
“Most of the time you will lose the clay because you are pulling it out but you will have the mold,” Williams said. “With the mold you fill it with melted wax and open it up where you can peel it a little bit more. You can bring all of the wax out of it to have a wax rendering.”
The wax rendering is then dipped to where it is hardened before it can be heated up to hold bronze.
“You take that wax and dip it into what is called a slurry,” Williams said. “They do at least seven dippings before it can dry… That will dry really rock hard, and then put into a kiln where it is fired, which makes it harder and can withstand temperatures to hold molten bronze.”
Though Williams has done the heating process before, because of the hazardous nature of working with the bronze, she receives help from a local art studio.
“It is a long long process, and we are fortunate to have an excellent foundry here,” Williams said. “It’s Michael Hall’s Studio Foundry in Driftwood. He does my bronze renderings for me… The process is very physical, strenuous and dangerous. They do an excellent job, and he is my go to guy.”
See more of Williams’ work at wimberleyvalleyartleague. org/sculpt ure-and-pottery-1/ pam-williams.
For more info about the RGB for SOS visit their website at sos-usa. org/rbgforsos.
