Sean Gillespie: A Living Medium

We're incredibly excited about our first exhibition of the season which will begin with an artist reception next Friday night, the 25th. Here's all the info:

Sean Gillespie:  A Living Medium

Artist Reception & Exhibition Preview:
Friday, March 25, 2011, 6-9 pm
Exhibition:
March 26 - April 16

"People think of wood as tough and solid; but actually it's a living medium, one that moves with the seasons."  

-Sean Gillespie

Sean Gillespie uses his carving tools like a painter uses brushes. Gestures and strokes create pattern and form. The wood records the movement of his hands, and captures the moment of creation in the material. Sean gets his ideas from the people, landscapes, and even the music surrounding him. He takes the world around him and breaks it into raw graphic elements. He then captures that expression in fine and exotic hardwoods.

Sean Gillespie, From Nothing, Solid Mahogany, 36" x 36" x 3"

 

Like many artists, when Sean Gillespie was growing up he spent most of his time sketching in the margins of his notebooks and textbooks.  He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Akron and became a graphic designer, but always felt something was missing in his work.  While living in Santa Fe, NM many years later he enrolled in a woodworking class and discovered his real passion.

Sean discovered the tactile experience of designing with, shaping and manipulating wood.  He was enamored with this new, three-dimensional material and began crafting furniture.  Over the next few years of teaching and  creating commissioned work, he became more interested in the parts of the furniture he was crafting than in the final product.  Sean found that he was assembling sculptural forms and some of those forms could stand on their own as fine art.   

Sean Gillespie, Conversation,Honduran Mahogany, MDF, & Maple, 66" x 12" x 9" each

Sean takes the world around him, breaks it into raw graphic elements and captures that expression in fine and exotic hardwoods.  His work is composed using the lathe, steel, torches, pigments, hand-carving tools, and through the 'untraditional use of traditional woodworking tools.' 

Don't miss this truly remarkable exhibition...Mirada Fine Art's first of the year.