Arts Encounters at the Beninis: April Event

	THIS MONTH'S ARTS ENCOUNTERS ARCHIVES OF RECENT EVENTS LIST OF FEATURED ARTISTS PRESS AND MEDIA PHOTO GALLERY VISITING LINKS CONTACT COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS HOME


(Archives) FEATURED ARTISTS for APRIL 2005: Saturday and Sunday April 30th and May 1st, 2005 The Use of Ferro Cement in Sculpture Loren Impson Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas For more than 20 years, Loren Impson has been working with ferro-cement, a product widely used in Europe since the late 1800’s. In addition to sculpture, his projects include a home built in the shape of a dragon and recently, the construction of a large vase on the island of Roatan in the Honduras, now the largest sculpture on the island. Visitors can view Impson’s 13’ and 16’sculptures, Aspiration and Determination, featured at the Benini Sculpture Ranch, and can learn the process of construction and installation of these pieces directly from the artist during the Arts Encounters presentation. The process of designing both Aspiration and Determination involved mathematical extrapolations from the model to the finished product. First, the hands were fabricated from expanded Poly Styrene to create the form for the steel armature. With the basic shape intact, each hand was transported to the site for completion, and erection was accomplished in a week. Impson, an expert on ferro-cement will answer questions from the audience.
The Art of Garden Design and Gardening C.L. Williams Austin, Texas C.L. Williams, Austin’s favorite designer of one-of-a-kind gardens will present an overview of some of his most interesting projects and answer questions about garden design, in his presentation entitled, “Design with Time”. With a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Harvard, Williams is a walking encyclopedia of natures’ beauties in the Hill Country. Combined with his sense of aesthetics and special creative ”eye” for details of space and place, art and nature, this will be an exceptional opportunity for lovers of elegant garden design.
Writer, Explorer, Naturalist Peter Gorman Joshua, Texas As a journalist for the past 25 years, published in Omni, Wildlife Conservation, Playboy, High Times, Mexico's Geo Mundo, Italy's Sette, England's World as well as video projects for National Geographic Explorer and the United Nations among others, Gorman has covered a broad spectrum from police work in New York City to Bombay street artists to bow hunting with indigenous tribes in the Amazon, especially, the Matses Indians of the remote border region between Peru and Brazil. Acculturating hunter-gatherers, they maintain much of their lifestyle, including the way they perceive the universe—something that can only be defined by Westerners as magical. Gorman will share some of the Matses’ magic he’s found over the past 20 years – insights and experiences that led to his collecting artifacts for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, important new medical discoveries from both plants and a little tree-frog, a fossil-bed find and the promise of more adventure and discoveries ahead..
Cor-ten and Stainless Steel & wood in Sculpture Sam Spiczka Sartell, Minnesota Born and raised in rural Minnesota, Sam Spiczka became captivated by metal early on through his experience working at his father’s welding shop. He went on to study art and philosophy at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Spiczka's large-scale, outdoor sculptures, which combine organic form and geometric structure, have been exhibited nationally. Highlights include the Convergence International Art Festival in Providence, Rhode Island, the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, Michigan and the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts, one of the top sculpture venues in New England. Spiczka's presentation will consist of a visual overview of his work, detailed information on his unique construction process and questions from the audience. "When I look at a natural creation, be it a bone, shell or tree, I am struck by the anomalies and variations found in an object that appears symmetrical at first glance. The perfection that life aspires to is forced to adapt into a more irregular and complex form when it encounters an indifferent environment. Yet the ideal still lies just below the surface. It is a whisper only our mind can hear. My sculpture is inspired by this conflict between an ideal state and an imperfect reality. In it can be found both the chaos of growth and the geometry of perfection."