Bring Colorado’s three-dimensional beauty into your home through sculptures November 09 2024, 0 Comments
By Kimberly Nicoletti
In our last blog, we talked about ushering landscape paintings into your non-Colorado home. Yet, there’s another, three-dimensional, way to bring the beauty of Colorado’s wildlife and vistas into your home — whether you live in state or not — and that’s through sculptures.
Sculptures add depth and delight to your home — much like spending time in the mountains does. Blending them with paintings results in a captivating, multi-dimensional aesthetic. Together, they tell a story about what you value.
When it comes to sculptures, many people automatically think of bronzes. But so many artists extend beyond typical bronze sculptures — even when they include the medium in their works.
For example, Colorado native James G. Moore incorporates bells into his wildlife-based bronzes. His inspiration stems from how bells traditionally gather people together, act as a signal for meditation or even warn people of danger.
Clay Enoch takes a playful approach to bronzes, while also integrating other materials in certain sculptures. Known for his uplifting works, pieces like “Ski School II” speak to kids venturing into the sport of skiing, while “Fall Line” and “Carver” showcase dynamic skiers on a steep slope fashioned from glass. “The Catch” captures children proudly displaying their fish on a line.
Other artists, like Alex Alvis, employ completely different materials. She utilizes paper clay to fashion her signature long-legged horses, which exude a vibrant spirit. She also creates stout mountain lions and wide-eyed owls that reflect Colorado’s wildlife. Many of her sculptures feature her distinct patinas, which add intriguing color.
Though Ana Maria Botero was born in Colombia, she moved to Colorado in 2005. She takes an innovative approach through her glass sculptures; in fact, she’s a bit of an illusionist. She uses the single hair of a paintbrush to meticulously paint reflections of Colorado in the form of turning aspen leaves, sparkling snowflakes, columbines (Colorado’s state flower), and other blooms. Then she bakes the piece, fusing the paint and glass. Like the mountains of Colorado, her sculptures impart a sense of calm, equilibrium and spaciousness, the latter of which particularly comes through her attention to empty space held within the glass.
If you’ve spent any time in Colorado, you’ve probably noticed that Coloradans treat their dogs much like kids, taking them just about everywhere they can. DD LaRue portrays the joy dogs bring to mountain lovers with her life-sized, mixed-media sculptures depicting hair-flyin’, smilin’ dogs hanging their heads from open car windows. While LaRue’s artwork differs a bit in the sculpture world because it does hang on a wall, its textural three-dimensionality cannot be denied. And, you just can’t help but smile when you walk into a room and see a car door, true to size, with fur-babies blowin’ in the wind.
Of course, if you love dogs, you have to consider introducing one of Marty Goldstein’s playful canines into your home.
Jeremy Bradshaw conveys the roundness and fullness of foxes, bears, wolves and birds while also connecting people with the majesty, playfulness and agility of mountain lions and foxes.
Houston Llew’s Spiritiles offer a small way to introduce three-dimensional art. Measuring 5 ¼ x 8 ½ x 1 ¾, they’re made of copper, glass and wood with finely ground glass hand painted on copper and then fired by kiln. While they portray various regions, you’ll find cowboys stating how “life can be a long ride,” a teepee reminding you to “find peace at home, within yourself” and a fox talking about a life lived wild.
When it comes to your art collection, it’s perfectly fine to group different mediums and different sizes, but sometimes it can be tricky to make it all look cohesive. We love creating harmonizing spaces, and we’re happy to guide you in finding ways to reflect your love of Colorado throughout your home.
