Josephine Helen Lorraine (Lorrie) Goulet {de Creeft} was an exceptional sculptor whose goal was to release the figure trapped within each block of wood or stone, a philosophy that dates back centuries. Her chosen technique—direct carving—was particularly arduous, and one she typically did without power tools.
Goulet was born in Riverdale, New York, a residential area in the Bronx, New York City. At age seven, she began to take art lessons at the Inwood Pottery Studio under the tutelage of Aimee Voorhees who taught Goulet how to mold clay. But rather than making functional objects like bowls, she preferred to make figures; one was a relief of a sleeping Rip Van Winkle with his dog. After she spent four years with Voorhees, the Goulet family moved to Los Angeles and young Lorrie apprenticed with a ceramicist there.
In fall of 1943, Goulet went east to study at Black Mountain College in Western North Carolina. She took classes with Josef Albers in painting and drawing, and with Anni Albers in weaving. Both emphasized the creative use of various materials. During the summer the following year, José de Creeft, a sculptor known for direct carving, was a visiting instructor. Despite the discrepancy in their ages—he was sixty and she was nineteen—they were married in 1945. For some time, she worked in his shadow. She recounted in an interview that he would constantly interrupt her while she was working, so she insisted upon having her own studio across the street.
Goulet had an influential career as a teacher in New York, first at the New School for Social Research from 1961 to 1975, and from 1981 to 2004 at the Art Students League. In the mid-1960s, she also demonstrated her approach to art in twenty-three instructional episodes for CBS television called Around the Corner. These programs, designed for young audiences, were sponsored by the New York City Board of Education.
The underlying concept of direct carving is that the artist’s role is to emancipate the subject from the confines of wood or stone. Goulet preferred the latter, and worked in such materials as black Tennessee marble, granite, limestone, and alabaster. When it came to wood she chose the harder types such as cedar, ebony, and mahogany. Goulet described her approach as such: “I carve wood and stones by hand, without reference to a preconceived model or maquette. My method is hammer and chisel. My theme is based on the study of the natural forms of the figure. My interpretation is often abstract, using flat planes to fortify the forms, and to give them strength. When I am carving (mostly in stone), I am inspired by the idea of the image in the round—the three-dimensional concept—that has line, mass, and movement. … The piece is always conceived by feelings inspired by nature.”
The majority of Goulet’s subject matter consists of the female figure who at times is accompanied by children. Like Michelangelo, she often did not always remove excess stone, but allowed it to become an expressive component of the final piece. When working with wood, she sought inspiration in the grain of the wood.