Artist’s Statement:

Describing my work is a challenge, creating it is simple.  It is a release, a physical manifestation of inner though and emotion.  I create work that expresses my immediate state of mind, therefore subject matter varies.  Ideas behind my work shift and meanings change from sculpture to sculpture.  A series, for me, physically manifests a shift in medium rather than philosophy.  The ideas behind my work seem to remain similar yet the materials that I use to visually express that inner idea is always changing, shifting.. evolving.

Often, my imagination far exceeds my technical know-how.  Instead of using techniques I have already mastered, I tend to learn new skills to make my concepts a reality.  I develop an idea then learn the methods necessary to make that idea take physical form.  This may be a contrary and challenging way to create, but it is also invigorating and adds a level of excited uncertainty for me.  By creating in this manner for many years I have, inadvertently, become a “jack of all trades” within the world of studio sculpture. 

Sculpture, to me, is the process.  I once read a quote that said, to the artist “art is a verb, not a noun.”  To me this meant, it is the physical act of creating and manifesting ideas through a set of technical skills, and not just a finished product.  Once a piece is finished, it leaves the studio and the artist moves forward to start the process all over again.

I have always struggled to find some meaning, that connecting thread in content or form, which unified my work.  Through my formal education I was taught that art had to have meaning.  I learned that a series of work should represent connections that all relate and follow some rule of cohesion.  While many artists may find this to be imperative, it always felt forced and untruthful in my own work.  The only truth I knew and felt comfortable with was in the raw materials and physical process of creating. 

After years of work, I finally came to the realization that it was the physical act of making sculpture that was overwhelmingly more important to me than the content or the finished product.  I found that as I created the pieces, I took more pictures that documented the steps involved in that process, than I did of the final work itself.  My realization that the process meant more to me than the content took me years to lean and accept.  Through this realization I discovered that the process was the meaning of my work, however, it was ironically invisible to everyone but me.  The viewer merely sees the physical manifestation of all my efforts, leaving only an esoteric meaning behind each sculpture. 

Autobiography:

I was born in Mountain View, California in 1974.  Soon after, my family moved to a small town in central Arkansas.  Raised in this rural setting, I began my love affair with wildlife and nature at an early age. My home was nestled in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, with scenic views of Greers Ferry Lake. It is from this inspiration that I often choose wildlife as my expression in art.

I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Missouri State University and my Master of Fine Arts Degree from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California.  Degrees in hand, I moved back to Arkansas where I built a studio and ran an art gallery for several years.  I currently serve on the board of the Arkansas Sculptors’ Guild and teach glass, ceramic and sculpture classes from my home studio.  I continue to educate and challenge myself by taking workshops and classes on various sculptural techniques.

I share my home with my husband of eight years, our young son, and a loyal pack of Labrador Retrievers, Australian Shepherds, one mutt and three cats.  I continue to work in my studio and I create art every day.

~Margaret Lola Warren