Richard Swanson | Rhythm & Whimsy

sorcerers apprentice

painted steel

6.5 x 11.5 x 3.25 inches

2013

Richard Swanson

rhythm & whimsy

Richard Swanson began this series of small-scale metal sculptures in 2013 after a decade of creating monumental public sculpture. The intimate scale of this body of work offers a level of spontaneity difficult to achieve in larger works, reflecting a freer use of color, form and line, embracing an improvisational and syncopated style of working that is as much about process and play as the final product. Swanson considers these sculptures visual poems whose colorful rhythms suggest a story or fragment of a dream.

With a large portion of his career dedicated to large scale and public works, Swanson explores space and scale freely, using size to either envision the individual works as studies for larger pieces, or as playful poetic quips standing complete all on their own.

Rhythm and Whimsy illustrates Swanson’s understanding of line, form, balance and rhythm to create three-dimensional line drawings that bounce brightly like jazz phrases – no hidden meanings but spontaneous and lyrical, with the interval between notes as essential as the notes themselves.

Biography:

Richard Swanson maintains two studios: a pottery, for making utilitarian and sculptural vessels, and a warehouse space, where he works on multi-media sculpture for museum installations, landscape installations and dance collaborations. He resides in Helena, Montana–a mountain town of much sunshine and an atmosphere of support and encouragement for the arts.

Richard’s first professional training was in psychobiology, a field dedicated to exploring the physical basis of memory. A casual pottery lesson from a friend led to an intense period of self-teaching and a career as a studio potter–later expanded to include ceramic sculpture. In 1974 he came to Helena, Montana as a resident at the Archie Bray Foundation, an internationally recognized ceramic center. An interest in working large scale with materials other than clay led him back to graduate school at the University of Montana–this time in art–where he undertook the first of several sculpture/dance collaborations with Amy Ragsdale, choreographer and art director of the Montana Transport Company.

Since obtaining his MFA from the University of Montana in 1994, his work has been honored with several major grants and awards, including a Montana Art Council Individual Fellowship, Art Matters Foundation Individual Artist Fellowship, Helena Presents Individual Artist Grant and a New Forms: Regional Initiative Grant. His many large-scale works have found permanent homes in the Northwest and beyond. Several of his public art commissions have become the defining visual symbol for cultural institutions including the Myrna Loy Center, the University of Montana-Helena, and the Holter Museum of Art, all in his home town, as well as the Medford Educational Facility in Medford, Oregon. His figurative clay vessels are featured in many books and magazines and have homes in such prestigious institutions as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs in Washington, D.C.

All images © Richard Swanson