Artists Describing Their Art:
David Vanorbeek - Metal speaks to me. Firstly it calls to me, drawing me to it with a magnetic pull that is impossible to resist. I might be walking or driving when suddenly I know for certain that discarded and abandoned metal is nearby, waiting for me to find it. And I always do. And then, when I see the beauty of the metal, it speaks to me again, telling me how it must be worked and shaped into a piece of sculpture that everyone can enjoy and share. For me, the great joy in my work comes from turning something considered worthless into the artwork it becomes. In this way I am showing my respect for the metal. The thread that runs like red wire through all my work is recycling. If I could, I would turn all the old metal and scrap iron I find into a museum of modern art. Just thinking of this idea makes my heart beat faster. My work has developed and taken different directions over the past twenty years, but was originally inspired by insects. In the same way, I see the beauty in these tiny and delicate, but at the same time immensely strong and ...
Elizabeth Frank - My artworks begin with fallen aspen branches. I make at least one trip annually to the mountains of the southwestern United States to gather the aspen that I'll use over the course of the year. My visits to the forest are like a pilgrimage. Every time I return I'm inspired by the strength and the delicacy of the natural world. After the aspen is collected it's dried in a room on my studio roof. Once dry, I cut and shape the rough branches with a band saw. Next I make a puzzle of all the odd parts. I spread them out on the floor, stack them up on a table and move them around until everything fits. The pieces are carved in small components that are joined together with pegs and nails. The surface is painted with acrylic, metal leaf and wax. I combine my carvings with found objects. The carving style is simple, inspired by iconic images found in folk, tribal and primitive art. The themes I use are personal yet universal. My love of the natural world and my concern for the environment translate into works about the intricate relationship between man and nature. I ...
Michael Kehrlein - painter,sculptor,textile artist ,My creations fit perfectly(sic) in a wabi sabi urban zen environment. Because I stubbornly believe all the care my hands give to each and every process of my textile creations or stone sculpture creates something more than just a "look." It may be subtle, but you know when you wear or touch. You know when that piece ages with you. You feel the thought of that person, who made it for you, the invisible. I work with "slow" materials, not flashy, not necessary pretty, not cheap, not easy, but those that will give a soul to the piece. I would like to offer you the best and unique. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. ...
Robert Pulley - A friend told me recently that it was helpul for her to know how an art work is created and how the artist thinks. That led me to consider what I have to say about my art work. When one looks at my sculpture I hope one sees strength, mystery, sensuousness, spiritual energy and more. How these constructions in modeled clay can stir such responsed in myself and others is a mystery to me, but I can say something about my methods and way of thinking. I have always been intuitive, reactive and spontaneous. I love improvisation, expression and the power of chance and serendipity. This may not seem obvious in large pieces that must be carefully crafted over weeks or months. Here is how it works. When I began the first pieces in this body of work many years ago they were purely improvisational. I would begin each piece with a flat slab of clay that I cut into a shape that would be the bottom of the sculpture. I usually had a vague idea of the proportions I wanted. This general notion set the theme within which I worked. In the manner of free jazz I would consider ...
Kelly Courtney - My work arises from a need to visualize and document my spiritual journey. Evolving from my one continuous line drawing style, I have developed a way to bring those drawings to life in wire. I call these FLUIDIKONS. A line telling a story, relating a message. Other works arrive from a love of mixed media and found objects. To view larger, and sometimes better versions of pictures seen here, please see:
Mark Dedrie - Mark Dedrie, an artist in motion by Robin d'Arcy Shillcock The first things you notice when confronted by work of Belgian sculptor Mark Dedrie (1962) are the stylized shapes and their highly polished finish. Although working within the tradition in which colour is omitted in favour of form, his approach is not so much classical an literal as turning a refined distillation of visual reality into a sculptural statement. He transforms a world of colour and movement into a world of presences, of volumes and elegant lines, and manages weightlessness in heavy bronze. This results in tactile, visually attractive sculptures. There aren't too many sculptors who know how to stylize animal shapes well, and even fewer that seek the degree of refinement Dedrie is striving for. It results in soft and sensual surfaces that underline the exquisite grace of birds like ducks and long-legged waders. There are honestly merely a few I can name. Francois Pompon (France 1855-1933) worked on Rodin's marble sculptures before becoming one of the greatest animal sculptors of the modern era. His work instigated what I call the Movement of Form, comprising the sculptors who preferred to distance themselves from ...
Joe Xuereb - My work is inspired by the remains of the Neolithic era of Maltese pre-history. Malta's Neolithic past is among its most precious heritages. I focus mainly on the female figure with its obvious manifestation of fertility and on emotions and relationships emerging from this archetype. I have based my philosophy of art on this figure because it highlights the maternal aspect of our Maltese civilization where the figure of the female principle has been a recurrent leitmotif, not least in the religious sphere. While my sculpture is rooted in the fertile soil of my country's prehistory, it tries to transcend this basic heritage by treating universal themes such as love, protection, unity and fecundity arising naturally from its premises. My subconscious plays a central role in my artistic philosophy. I have been influenced by certain basic themes which recur in my thoughts even my dreams and which inspire my oeuvre. ...