Artists Conversation: Live For International Sculpture Day
Recorded Saturday April 25 | Click Here to Watch
Free Livestream, Space is Limited, Please Register in Advance here: https://bit.ly/ISDAY2020
Two arts organizations in Northern Michigan are uniting in digital-celebration of International Sculpture Day, an annual worldwide event April 25th organized by the International Sculpture Center. Normally there would be international public tours, events, and workshops but this year, most of us are sheltering in place.
Dennos Museum Center and Michigan Legacy Art Park will co-host a live roundtable of talented Michigan artists who will engage in a lively conversation about sculpture, their process, and the big picture but also how this emergency is shaping or influencing the creative sector. Pour a cocktail, sit back and follow this unique chance to explore this fascinating medium.
Join Lois Teicher from Detroit, Maureen Bergquist Gray from Interlochen, Brian Ferriby from Maple City and led along by moderator John Sauvé from Detroit. Art Fans will be connecting us the hashtag #ISDay
John Sauvé
John Sauvé, born in 1963 in Detroit, is an American artist and arts educator. His medium is sculpture and printmaking and has achieved national and international recognition. He was awarded a grant from the Marc Ecco Foundation for his work Man in the City, the first public sculpture exhibit installed on the Highline in New York City. John Sauvé studied art history at Michigan State University. After finishing his studies, he spent a year traveling through Europe continuing his education in art history. He then returned to Detroit to work for the Michigan Commission on Art in Public Places where he oversaw the installation of public art for the Percent for the Art Program. He concluded his studies with a degree in Arts Administration at Michigan State University. John Sauvé references philosophy, literature and history by approaching the human figure with an idealized representation. Borrowing from Heidegger’s concept of “Dasein”, Jung’s interest in the shadow and the Faustian Legend, Sauvé’s sculpture is as much about the figure as the shadow it cast. This relationship highlights his interest in the question of being and the covenant the individual will make to exist. Sauvé challenges the viewer by presenting the figure in public spaces utilizing the environment as a way to question what it means to existence and relationship between the individual and the collective.
Lois Teicher
Lois Teicher has been working as a distinguished sculptor for decades. Over the years she has been featured in hundreds of exhibitions, including the Robert Kidd Gallery in Birmingham, MI, a retrospective at the Saginaw Art Museum, and a one woman show at the Dennos Museum Center, with works in the collections of both institutions.
The Scarab Club in Detroit honored Teicher in 2019 with their exhibition, “Lois Teicher: Woman of Steel.” The collection juxtaposed early and recent work in a retrospective look at one of Michigan’s most prolific and groundbreaking artists.
Teicher has lived and worked in Detroit her entire life and is well known for her large-scale steel sculptures, including Curved Form with Rectangle and Space (2000), installed in Hudson Art Park, Bonnet (1999), permanently installed in the Michigan Legacy Art Park, Bag (2011) in Kansas City, Missouri, and Paper Airplane Series in Bishop Airport, Flint. In addition, her work is beloved in numerous private and public collections.
In 2008, Teicher was awarded the Michigan Artist Lifetime Achievement Award from The Governor’s Awards for Arts & Culture, produced by ArtServe Michigan. She graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the College for Creative Studies, and from Wayne State University in 1981 with a master’s degree in fine arts.
“I experience inspiration as a larger creative force coming through me, from a felt sense of universal energy,” Teicher notes. “As an artist, I believe I was meant to express this energy in visual form, hoping that the viewer would notice, reflect upon, become aware of, and share the experience.”
Maureen Bergquist Gray
Maureen Bergquist Gray received a degree from Northern Michigan University in furniture design and construction with a sculpture minor. Her sculpting material had been limestone until the last 6 years when she decided to enter outdoor sculpture shows and the weight of limestone was prohibitive so she began working in steel. Her work can now be seen in Chicago, Indianapolis, Kenosha and Appleton WI and Palm Springs CA.
Brian Ferriby
Brian Ferriby is a professional sculptor and artist. He is a graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He teaches art and design courses at the Art Institute of Michigan in Novi, where he is currently the Faculty Lead for Art Foundations. He is the Chair of the Collections Committee for the Michigan Legacy Art Park in Thompsonville. He is also working on commissioned public art pieces around the Midwest, and is represented by the River Gallery in Chelsea.
