OPENING RECEPTION - January 17, 2019 630-830PM Schaefer Gallery at Gustavus Adolphus College

Inscapes Exhibition Statement | January 2019

My sculpture originates in the found and the discarded. It straddles the industrial and the natural, asking questions of our sense of form and space, presence and void. My art explores the language at the intersection of sculpture, dance and architecture. While the work has shifted to newer materials, it still maintains the visual language of the found.

Victoria’s body of work—Inscapes—explores the small intimate interior of sculptures that one might interact with on a table or in a small courtyard. These sculptures are all about expressing inward movements. Some, like Engagement (2018), are meant to lead you to the piece’s different sides and draw out conclusions you might reach by turning a piece around, picking it up and putting it down anew.  It is not perfect. Rather, like being engaged, there are struggles and complications that provide visual interest, and new perspectives emerging out of the confusion.

The Inscapes series reflects a transitioning in my work toward the architectural and how it interacts with the sculptural, bringing the monumental sense of space from architecture into a smaller sculptural context. The work strives to create a sense of awe from inside the work, more so than from the outside.  I am interested in the juncture of Sculpture and Architecture, both on a monumental and micro scale, and how they might relate. The impetus for this new body of work accelerated when I moved to Minnesota, as there were tons of scrap metal, yet little access to it. As a result I have turned primarily to new metal, relying on the artistic language I had already  been learning and developing with found and recycled steel.

My methodology thus far is that of an intuitive modernist. I regularly use a direct metal approach, starting with the materials in my hands and responding to them as I work. Sometimes I will resort to drawing when I hit a wall or I tire of the templating process. I strive to create works that the hand and the mind can caress, combining the industrial with the soft accents of nature and history as subtle reminders of where the materials originated and how we can re-envision our daily surroundings.

Art makes a difference and has an inspiring and healing part to play in us and in our communities.

Andrew C. Hellmund

Inspired by their time in Japan as guests of the Tanaka Education Foundation, Kimberly Giegerich '15, Andrew Hellmund '14 and Kimberly King '14 have collaborated to create a collection of sculptures, mixed media and photography.