John Sauvé interviews Michael D. Hall for International Sculpture Day
Two arts organizations in Northern Michigan are uniting again in digital-celebration of International Sculpture Day, an annual worldwide event organized by the International Sculpture Center.
Dennos Museum Center and Michigan Legacy Art Park will co-host a live conversation between two talented Michigan sculptors who will engage in a lively conversation about craft, process, and the big picture. Pour a cup of coffee, sit back and follow this unique chance to explore this fascinating medium.
How to Connect
This livestream event will take place Sunday April 25 at 1:00 PM EST. Anyone in the world can watch for free on Zoom here (participants must provide an email address to receive a secure link for the program). Guests online can also submit questions.
About the Artists in Conversation
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. 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.
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.
Michael D. Hall is a sculptor best known for his large-scale, metal works. He received his M.F.A. from the University of Washington in 1964. Working primarily in constructed steel and aluminum, he began exhibiting in the 1960s, and was closely associated with the monumental sculpture and public art movements of the 1970s and 80s. Hall held teaching posts at the University of Kentucky and the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, among others.
Solo exhibitions of his work have been mounted at Vanderbilt University, Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, Detroit Institute of Arts, Kent State University, Georgetown University, Art Gallery of Windsor, and the Detroit Scarab Club. Selected museums with Hall’s work in their permanent collections include Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Princeton University Art Museum, Jacksonville Art Museum, J.B. Speed Art Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Dennos Museum Center.
In addition to his art making and teaching, Hall is a noted author, collector, critic and curator whose areas of expertise include American folk and self-taught art, and American Regionalist art of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
Hall lives in Hamtramck, MI with his wife, artist Pat Glascock.
About the Collaborators
Michigan Legacy Art Park is a nonprofit arts organization founded by internationally acclaimed artist David Barr in 1995 to enrich lives through experiences that connect art, nature, and Michigan’s history. Contemporary Art comes to life in the park’s permanent collection of almost 50 works, located in the midst of a 30-acre forest preserve. The Art Park hosts thousands of visitors and students each year, features miles of trails, world-class concerts outdoors, art and nature workshops, and extensive education programs. It is open every day of the year.
The Dennos Museum Center seeks to engage, entertain and enlighten its audiences through the collection of art, and the presentation of exhibitions and programs in the visual arts, sciences and performing arts. Located at Northwestern Michigan College, the center is a premier cultural facility in northern Michigan offering a dynamic array of exhibitions and programs in the visual arts, sciences and performing arts. Opened in 1991, the Museum Center features three changing exhibit galleries and an elegant sculpture court; a unique hands-on Discovery Gallery and a renowned Inuit Art Gallery.
