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Artist: Stephanie Dwyer
Artists » Stephanie Dwyer
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Craft Medium:
Metal
Artist's Statement: My art is a product of nature and my environment. Nature serves as more than just inspiration, driving all of the elemental forms I create with fire and metal. A large part of my practice is meeting with people and forming personal relationships. Drawing from Southern history, culture and folklore, I gravitate to the deep roots of family. I see my artwork as a vehicle for families and friends to come together. My pieces encourage people to congregate more naturally as they resonate with the folklore my artwork is inspired by. Whether it's a fire pit, a metal bench, or a bottle tree, each piece brings people together to tell old stories and create new ones.
I work with different gauges of sheet metal, round rod, tubing and pipe. I perform cold and hot forging for bending materials. I use no computers for design or cutting, sketching designs and using a welder and plasma cutter all by hand. Using tools that I can touch keeps me involved with all stages of the piece from design to creation and completion. All of my metal comes from the South.
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Artist Works:
Artist Biography:
From an early age I could always be found in the woods amongst the textures, sounds and smells that stimulated and taught an impressionable artistic mind and heart. I would spend all hours of the day building forts and sculptural objects out of tree limbs, rocks and leaves. Finding old bottles, to me, was sheer treasure and used as such.
Progressing into adulthood I attempted to stifle my artistic curiosity, as it was not considered very promising financially. After years of odd jobs and a complete sense of dread toward every one of them, I found myself being drawn again into the wonderful world of trees and earthly treasures via my mother’s 7 acres. I started spending every weekend there and eventually bought a 26’ fifth wheel where I set up temporary residency amongst horses and wide open spaces in NEED of organic sculptures. The very force that drove me in my youth had found me again, and I wasn’t about to turn my back on it. But as my wooden and wire structures would decay, someone brought to my attention the fact that metal is a more permanent material in the elements and one can manipulate it to replicate wood. Eureka! Off to my first welding class.
I attended a vocational school with a two year associates’ degree in welding. I had no idea where it would take me, but the second I struck my first arc I was hooked and never looked back. Every process was more intriguing and challenging than the last. The class would have a free day on Thursdays when we could use the facility to build anything we wanted. While the guys were working on farm equipment or their cars, I built thrones, trellises and whatever else I thought would look good in my landscape. To my joy, I gained an artistic appreciation and relationship with my instructors, all of whom were “artists” and very well known in the Northwest. Don Anderson, Jere Donnelly and Shirley Erickson showed me that it was possible to live by your passion and make a living at it. The key was to be honest with what was inside me. I can’t follow others on their path; I could only acknowledge what drove me in my own work. The beautiful thing is that I’ve found something that doesn’t feel like work at all. I enjoy every day at the shop. The possibilities are endless as to what I am able to build, and I learn something new every day.
In August of 2006 I moved to Madison, Mississippi with nothing more than my welding equipment and my dog Maggy, so I could be closer to family. Like the constant child inside me, I was driven to discovering something beyond myself. I craved “family” and the need to share my work with others. What better place to experience family than in the South!
With every Bottle Tree made and delivered, new relationships are made. With every commissioned piece is a new friendship. People enjoy my work and I in turn enjoy them, their life experiences, their wedding stories, the births of their grandchildren, everything that drives us all to life and living well by sharing. The South is now my home, and Mississippi is that magical place that allows me to be that little rebellious, inquisitive, creative child that refuses to grow up. Since moving here, I have let go of many things. Best of all, I got rid of that negative voice that says “you can’t do it.” My work is proof that if you live honestly and from your heart, you can experience nothing but success. Every day is a great day when you enjoy what you do and make other people happy in the process. I am truly blessed, and it gives me great pleasure to share my work with you.
My art isn’t just “art”—it’s a bridge that connects me with the people out there that I have yet to meet.
Artist Website Email to Stephanie Dwyer
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