Portfolio | Breaking the Plane

Meet 7 artists who push art into all three dimensions

This story was featured in the July 2013 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Order the Southwest Art July 2013 print issue, or get the Southwest Art July 2013 digital download now…Or better yet, just subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss a story!

Diane Mason

Diane Mason, The Wisdom Keeper, bronze, 10 x 13 x 8.

Diane Mason, The Wisdom Keeper, bronze, 10 x 13 x 8.

“A friend and fellow sculptor has kept a little screech owl as a pet in her home for many years. I thought the concept of an owl in a library setting was delightful, and the sculpture evolved from there. The addition of an antique inkwell and a quill pen added a nostalgic touch to the composition. It is up to the viewer to determine who or what THE WISDOM KEEPER really is. Is it the little owl keeping you from accessing the wisdom contained in the books? Is it the individual writing in the journal using the quill pen? Or is it the little journal itself?”

representation
Blackhawk Gallery, Saratoga, WY; Deselms Fine Art & Custom Framing, Cheyenne, WY; Scarlett’s Gallery and Antique Shop, Santa Fe, NM; Bier Art Gallery, Charlevoix, MI; Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, CO; ddmason.com.

Sandy Graves

Sandy Graves, Bugle, bronze, 18 x 10 x 4.

Sandy Graves, Bugle, bronze, 18 x 10 x 4.

“BUGLE has a sense of power, majesty, and a beautifully vivid patina. Bull elk are breathtaking to see in nature and are an important part of the Rocky Mountain high-country landscape that I call home. The idea for the stylized work that I am currently creating came from my very first experience casting in bronze in 1992. I had no idea about the processes of lost wax, so my naïveté allowed me the freedom to simply create without rules. I enjoy the energy, movement, and whimsical nature that these pieces achieve. They allow the personalities of the animals to come alive. I am mostly concerned with the overall compositions of these works. I strive to make both positive and negative spaces interesting from all vantage points.”

representation
The Artists’ Gallery of Steamboat, Steamboat Springs, CO; Artym Gallery, Invermere, British Columbia, Canada; Fredericksburg Art Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX; La Bottega Dell’Acquaforte, Laguna Beach, CA; Old Towne Gallery, Park City, UT; Ramey Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA; Rare Gallery of Fine Art, Jackson, WY; Renee Taylor Gallery, Tubac and Sedona, AZ; SmithKlein Gallery, Boulder, CO; The Sportsman’s Gallery, Beaver Creek, CO; www.sandygravesart.com.

Darlis Lamb

Darlis Lamb, French Lesson 18: Chili Festival, Festival de Piment, bronze, 4 x 27 x 7.

Darlis Lamb, French Lesson 18: Chili Festival, Festival de Piment, bronze, 4 x 27 x 7.

“CHILI FESTIVAL is evocative of the warmth of the Southwest. The beautiful variety of chili shapes inspired me. Red, a color I quite frequently employ, added life to the bronze composition. The sculpture is from my French Lessons series, in which I translate titles in English to French. The entire title, in keeping with this sensibility, is FRENCH LESSON 18: CHILI FESTIVAL, FESTIVAL DE PIMENT. Creating titles with such simplicity and context leaves the viewer’s imagination open to personal interpretation. My titles were originally inspired by the French Impressionists’ style of using simple descriptive titles in their still-life paintings, referring primarily to their actual subjects. Having worked as a painter before sculpting, I view these pieces as bronze still lifes, a natural transition.”

representation
Howard/Mandville Gallery, Kirkland, WA; Rich Timmons Studio and Gallery, Doylestown, PA; Marta Stafford Fine Art Gallery, Marble Falls, TX; Sugarman-Peterson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; www.darlislamb.com.

Jane Rankin

Jane Rankin, Toadly Cool, bronze, 48 x 33 x 18.

Jane Rankin, Toadly Cool, bronze, 48 x 33 x 18.

“A while back, I received a call from a couple in Texas. They had recently purchased one of my pieces and wished to show me how they had placed it in their home. TOADLY COOL and a companion piece were commissioned on this visit. Both pieces were to be arranged on the couple’s deck, and to avoid hurt feelings, neither sculpture was to resemble their grandchildren. The young boy in TOADLY COOL was to be sitting on a rail and holding a horned toad, endemic to the area. The companion piece was to be a young girl clinging to the rail nearby and pointing at the toad. These pieces are unique in that the horned toad has evolved into a frog and the girl now has a magic wand.”

representation
Hayden Hays Gallery, Colorado Springs, CO; Joe Wade Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM; www.janerankin.com.

Dan Toone

Dan Toone, Grace, steel, 6 x 5 x 5.

Dan Toone, Grace, steel, 6 x 5 x 5.

“Sometimes there is something about a fall-off piece from another project that catches your eye. Maybe it’s the lines, shape, or form. You start working with it to see if you can use it. That is what happened with GRACE. Two identical pieces that would normally be used in a commercial type of project came together to form their own small work of art.

“I enjoy taking what is normally rigid, structural steel and forming it into flowing lines and shapes similar to those found in nature. The patina brings out the individual personality in each piece of metal. I often combine that with stainless steel for a nice contrast.”

representation
District Gallery, Park City, UT; Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT; www.dantoone.com.

Pokey Park

Pokey Park, Jambes, bronze, 10 x 9 x 6.

Pokey Park, Jambes, bronze, 10 x 9 x 6.

“JAMBES, meaning ‘legs’ in French, is a lighthearted piece whose subject appears in a slightly different form from my other frog sculptures. I have been focusing on the impact that humans have on animal species around the world, taking a special interest in endangered and threatened species and exploring the mythology and history of them. Frogs are our companions on earth, and in the stories and myths of many cultures, they are connected to divine powers of fertility, regeneration, and rebirth.

“JAMBES, an endangered California red-legged frog, is the first of 40 different animal-habitat sculptures I have been commissioned to create for the expansion to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford School of Medicine in Palo Alto, CA.”

representation
Adagio Galleries, Palm Desert, CA; Around the Corner Art Gallery, Montrose, CO; Jane Hamilton Fine Art, Tucson, AZ; K. Newby Gallery, Tubac, AZ; Lumina Gallery, Taos, NM; Lupita’s, Ridgway, CO; SmithKlein Gallery, Boulder, CO; White Dog Gallery, Carbondale, CO; www.pokeypark.com.

Kevin Robb

Kevin Robb, Playing Ball, stainless steel, 196 x 53 x 41.

Kevin Robb, Playing Ball, stainless steel, 196 x 53 x 41.

“Since his stroke in 2004, Kevin’s sculptures have been created through a special process that begins with communicating his vision for the piece in drawings and sketches. His assistants then fabricate this vision in the studio while Kevin directs the whole process, often drawing on the steel and pointing to what he needs done.

“PLAYING BALL is permanently placed in a roundabout in Little Rock, AR. The piece is intended to be playful yet sophisticated. The large ball in the center features the stylistic grind marks often seen in Kevin’s work. The negative spaces created within the triangles are as important to the piece as the steel sphere and the softly curved elements that form the sculpture itself.” —Diane Robb, spokesperson for Kevin Robb 

representation
Coda Gallery, Palm Desert, CA; Kodner Gallery, St. Louis, MO; Dean Day Gallery, Houston, TX; www.kevinrobb.com.

Featured in the July 2013 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art July 2013 digital download
Southwest Art July 2013 print issue
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