"Bull's Eye"
by
Stephan Fowlkes
Sponsored by Kevin@Mike's Place III
Currently residing in New York City, Stephan Folkes has long had a love of the state of Vermont. He is a graduate of Bennington College. Stephan was the Curator of North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Park in 2003-2004. His prestigious awards are far too numerous to mention.
Most recently Stephan has been working with wood, after a year teaching woodworking to elementary school students. " I started working with wood in 1998, after a year teaching woodworking to elementary school students. Their fascination with the process, pleasure in using the tools, and delight with the physicality of the finished objects inspired me in my own work to move from canvas to wood. Wood as a material has a history, references a previous life, and lends itself to a dynamic interplay in the creative process which canvas lacks. The wood's properties--grain, knots, etc.--play an integral part in my decision-making throughout the process as well as in the finished work. Sometimes I jump on the planks which will roughly break along the grain, affect that break, then put the planks back together again--before I even begin with the subject matter."
The qualitry of surface is of utmost importance to me in both the process and the end product. To achieve such, I employ traditional and non-traditional methods.
This balance between tradition and innovation is one of the several dichotomies, dialogues, and tensions which are prevalent throughout most of my work. Other such pairings include: the obvoius--square and circle, geometric and organic, man-made and natural, synthetic and organic, industrial and artisanal, order and entropy or chaos, actuality and illusion, etc. It is with these dualities--these tensions--that I approach the materials and subject matter in an attempt to create an active dialogue--a certain dynamic-- within the work, to find a common ground, a balance, a harmony based somewhere in logical sensiblities, so that the piece whose origins lie in apparent oppositions offers a wholeness, a unity, a singularity, simplicity, sometimes a zen-like quietude, when viewed.
Stephan Fowlkes works may be viewed at: http://www.stephanfowlkes.com
Sponsor: Kevin@Mike's Place III
27 Main Street, North Bennington, Vermont
Location: 27 Main St, North Bennington
This moose was SOLD on eBay/b>
