Sitka Art Invitational

Born
28-Aug-58, Chicago, Illinois

Medium
Concrete, steel, mixed materials.

www.alysiaducklergallery.com

Technique
I create abstract sculptural forms using concrete, steel and mixed materials including animal hair, natural and synthetic materials. These forms are lightweight and contain welded steel armatures, various types of screening and building insulation foam. The concrete is “skim-coated” over the armatures and then sanded or polished. Other parts of the work are intricately woven in blackened steel wire, and are either left as is or filled with a contrasting material.

Interests
I strive to create work that evokes an intangible but pleasurable emotion or sensation. The work includes amorphous and voluptuous sculptural forms that boast a personality. I want one to feel the sensuousness of these forms by associating them with something vaguely familiar but indescribable. My hope is to conjure a sense of familiarity without necessarily understanding where this feeling comes from. Abstraction is an expression of characteristics that are apart from anything concrete, practical or recognizable. It can lead one toward ideas, thoughts and emotions rather than conclusions. The materials I use – concrete, wire, and a variety of mixed materials – are used to further enhance the emotions associated with the forms.

Favorite Place
I have several favorite places but the two that are at the top of my list are the beach when no one else is on it and the mountain forest when no one else is in it (except my family).

Collections
Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA; Portland Community College, Sylvania Campus, Portland, OR; Omak East Elementary School, Omak, WA; Camas Prairie Elementary School, Spanaway, WA; also numerous private collections.

Other information
M.F.A. Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Craftsmen, Rochester, NY; B.F.A. University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Currently (June, 2005) I am having my third solo exhibition at Alysia Duckler Gallery and I've been invited to participate in an exhibition called "The Northwest Visits The Northeast" at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston in August. In 2003 I was invited to participate in an exhibition at the Japanese American Historical Society, San Francisco, CA, titles "Asian Roots, Western Soil: Visual Poetry in Metal", and in "big/LITTLE", an exhibition of jewelry, metalsmithing and sculpture at the Craft and Cultural Arts Gallery in Oakland, CA. I am currently a professor and department head of the metals department at Oregon College of Art & Craft where I have been teaching for over 20 years.