A brief statement about Wickerson Studios

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Statement:

Wickerson Studios is a 'state' created from the clay of the earth and the timber of the fallen trees. Three structures have emerged from their foundations: a collier pit, a foundry, and an anagama kiln.

Hamlet's Mill digs deep into the earth and boils rainwater into the air. It is a place for the mind and soul and constantly resists the term, dwelling. Gardens grow both inside and out and animals nest in its branches and twigs. No work will be done in this place. It is a place for well-deserved rest, relaxation and healing.

The Grieve Foundry is the laboratory. Raised and rammed from the dead trees and surrounding mud. This building houses the equipment required to cast liquid iron and bronze and the machines capable of manipulating and transforming cold steel. Traditional lost wax castings find their forms within this earthwork and the artist's endurance and strength are tested within its walls.

Moby Dick, the thirty foot cave kiln is designed to fire the earth into bricks that will then be used to pavestone, wall, and build additional structures in and around the expanding studio.  Ceramic artworks will find their way in and around the, much needed, bricks and inspire the utilitarian structure to achieving new creative heights.

Sunlight is the only light that is ever provided. The winds and rains penetrate the privacy of these three special places. Everything is seasonal. The summer sun exhausts and the winter chill bites. It is easy to feel alive in this place.

Purpose:

I wish to further develop the private studio and sculptural landscape of Wickerson Studios by facilitating it with additional equipment, supplies and materials in order to serve a growing community of artists.

My efforts and ambitions seem to be moving beyond the my personal development and exhibition of sculptures and ideas.  I feel the need to expand my efforts in the arts.  My American arts community has grown from 12 students in 2001, when I moved here from Canada, into an international exchange of ideas spanning the globe.  Beginning to develop my private studios on an institutional level will allow me to continue to serve the alumni and artists that I have come to know.  I look forward to creating new artworks, all the while, serving other artists with the same enthusiasm and drive that has inspired me to make a life for myself in America that develops personally and professionally with creative individuals.

Meanwhile, I wish to pursue a series of artworks, Cupola/Cupola, and events focused on bronze casting, iron casting, and clay kiln firing.  Cupola/Cupola is a collection of new fangled drawings, bronze sculptures and outdoor public works that have been inspired by the time I have spent traveling, working and living in the Netherlands, specifically Friesland. It is the northern Klokkenstoelen that captured my imagination and later melded with my iron cupola designs. These bell towers and furnace wagons are the subject of my past artworks and the basis of all of my current projects.