NEWS - January 2021 - #1
It is my great pleasure to share with you that my sculpture, Northern Torsion, Pike and Bull, is a finalist in the 15th International ARC (Art Renewal Center) Salon. "The ARC Salon Competition is the most influential and far-reaching competition for Contemporary Realism in the world." (ARC Website)
4941 entries were submitted from 83 countries - and Northern Torsion has happily found its way through both Semi-finals and Finals.
For me this traverse is truly of important - as it marks a striving for a place and voice amongst world cultures who still classically train artists to create and practice within my field.
Admittedly such striving makes me rather self-conscious - for my artistic origins are so elemental and humble - born of lessons threshed and skills scrabbled together from a grinding decade and a half inside the industrial foundry system
When I entered this competition - I did so to place my work in front of judges who knew what relief sculpture entailed - and further, to share my vision alongside some of the finest contemporary sculptural pieces in the world.
No I did not win the ARC Salon - but I am so happy to see the voice of my work travel this far.
I am deeply honored by the judge's decision to include my sculpture in the Finalist Group for the 15th ARC Salon's Sculpture Category.
Further, only two relief sculptures made their way to the finals in the Sculpture Category. I am truly thrilled to say that my bronze, Northern Torsion, Pike and Bull was one of them.
My sincerest congratulations to all of those remarkable artists whose work has been honored and recognized this year!
My very best wishes to each of you for great and continued success! JDW
Northern Torsion, Pike and Bull's sculpture's dialogue reads:
"With a swirl of dark water, the trajectories of two extraordinary predators - invasives and cannibals alike - collide and entwine. Then with a splash and an undulation of ripples, the watery curtains close with seeming resolution. Yet all is not well. Whatever the outcome of the encounter, ecological balance is evidenced as being skewed one small step further from center and the narrowing of species is made manifest. The slope that we have set our world upon is a slippery one and Nature harkens to us to heed its signs of warning…" JDW