Sculpture from wire
Open Door - February 2007 pages 14-15
Edward Netley
When I was first diagnosed with MS at the age of 26 I thought my world had come to an end. I had lost my job (HM Forces) along with a place to live. We had our firstborn due to arrive in a few months time so all those stresses added to an already worn out body.
I was angry at my body for letting me down and embarrassed at not being able to provide for my family. Stupidly I felt guilty for letting my wife down, as if I had played an awful con trick in marrying her.
On top of all this, the final straw was my vision and motor control problems. I have always painted and drawn and now even this pleasure was being denied. My colour vision was the biggest problem, changing through losing red perception to ending up just black and white. To combat this, I changed to working with colour pencils. The colour is written on the pencil and, as with a monochrome photograph, one can always tell the shade. The style of my illustrations meant I needed fine motor control. I had stopped creating with pen and ink because of the shakes but found lateral movements were not so badly affected. I could still shade and draw.
Then came the next blow. Because of reduction in sensation I was gripping the pencils so hard that my fingertips were being bruised. The answer was to reduce the pressure by noticing visually the state of my fingertips and easing my hold. Easier said than done as it highlighted my vision problems. So it ended up being an ever decreasing circle with one in contest with the other as to which could be the most annoying. Things were starting to become quite frustrating. The final straw was my vision dropping off to the stage of my not being able to read even the headlines of a newspaper. I even had complete white-outs leaving me blind for short periods.
By this time I had gone through the 'why me stage' and got back to 'problems are made to solve' attitude of my normal self. I had to create. It is a hunger, a need, a requirement of life for me. Being unable to draw was not an option I could comprehend. Also the monies from selling my pictures would be sorely missed.
The answer came, from of all places, my wardrobe! I was trying to untangle a pile of wire coat hangers when it dawned on me that if they all hold together by random chance then I must be able to twist and crimp them together. (I had in the past thought of welding or braising wire to make sculptures but the cost of equipment had been prohibitive). So I started my first sculpture from wire. Five hours later I was somewhat unhappy and ranting at what was an inanimate object (the wire) for not playing ball. (I forget now what I threatened to do to the coat hangers if they did not comply). I was just about to give up when one strand went in and it all held together. Wow, the feeling! Here was a way forward circumventing the vision problems and allowing my hunger to be satisfied.
So what did all this teach me? To look for ways around problems. Answers can come from the most unexpected places. To stop being angry and get on with it. Yes at times I do howl at the moon in frustration; it does me good to release all that pent up energy. But to waste time by crying over the cards one has been dealt, now that is a waste of life. At the moment of writing this, MS is being kind to me, my vision is back and so is my motor control. I get a lot of 'blips', which keep me on my toes and do not allow me to become complacent. I know what may lie ahead for me regards the MS. It has given me a short taste of the future. That does not mean that I should give up on today because tomorrow I might not be so able. It is my life and it is as fulfilling or as empty as I choose. MS has opened my mind to the beauty of life. I am a better person for it.
It has taken me many years to master my chosen medium with lots of frustration fighting the MS on the way. Yet the strange thing is without MS I would not be creating my sculptures, so all those years ago when I thought my life had ended, it had in fact just begun.
See more sculptures at Edward Netley's website
Woman with MS
This nude was commissioned for the MS Therapy Centre at Exeter
"I was asked to show what having MS felt like. So after much thought I decided to show the nerve damage by using old barbwire. She is pregnant to show there is always life and a future. The stick is synonymous with MS as is the holding of a tree for support. From a distance the internal barbwire is unseen; it comes into view only on close inspection, mirroring the way MS is hidden from the outside."
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