Schouten Gallery: Sharon Spencer bronze and stone sculpture

“Carving for me is very exiting. It can be very deliberate and thought-out, or it can be totally free, with no idea in mind as to the direction I might go. The spirit of the piece seems to be within, and coming out of the material, as well as within and from me. At times it feels as if someone outside myself is doing the carving.”

After a number of years working in stone, Spencer began her exploration of bronze, and with it, her exploration of the amazing patinas that give her work such characteristic color. Patinas are a treatment of the bronze with various salts, minerals and acids that react chemically with the bronze to change its color. Working with Artworks Foundry in Oakland, Sharon became a master at this, and often has her pieces look like stone or marble, or getting deep reds and lapis blues, or delicate feather patterns.

Sharon’s work reflects her fascination with Native American, Eskimo, and Asian cultures. It affirms her respect for animals and the earth, and this thread is constant throughout her body of work, which ranges from large outdoor abstract pieces to small-scale, figurative work.

Her materials can also vary from bronze or found natural materials, such as sticks and grasses to sandstone, steatite and Italian translucent alabaster, pulps and bamboo. Besides her exploration of avian forms, a recurring theme is that of the vessel, whether in bronze or stone, in the form of a nest or water basin.