September 25th, 2014

Joe Norman has some wonderful new updates for us this week, as well as three new sculptures for the gallery… one of which was sold within hours of delivery. We are slowly bringing in new work from his Colorado-based artist, for his November show with Bridgette Meinhold: “Bountiful World.”

“Ever since I spent time in the Great Basin of Nevada I gained an appreciation for the work of Michael Heizer, especially Perforated Object in Reno.  My series of Perforated Basins began my own exploration of linking the manufactured past to the present, in my case using the manufacturing remnants from ice climbing equipment fabrication.

As I was working, it led me to a somewhat academic question:  what makes a ‘surface’?  For example, how many holes can you put into it and still feel like there is a surface there?  How much can you bend it and still call it a ‘suface’?  Do the planes of a basin have to even meet for it to be interpreted as a enclosed object?  Since most of my work is made of surfaces, it seemed like a useful question to figure out what ‘surfaces’ even are.  And, it is a nice mental break from obsessing about the political and human rights issues that much of my other work involves.  Below are the latest iterations that I call Perforated Sail I & II, currently on display at Gallery MAR in Park City, UT.”

Norman is honored to be a part of an upcoming show, called the Loveland Studio Tour. This runs over the weekend of Octpber 10-11, and he will have work displayed in various stages of completion. If you are in the area, it will be an opportunity to hear him speak about his process, as well as see first hand all all of the time and processing that goes into creating his sculpture work.  Details on the event, and a map of participating studios can be found here:  http://www.lovelandartstudiotour.com/index.php

Another exciting (maybe even heart-pounding!) show that Norman will “compete” in, is th Sculpture Games (think Iron Chef but with sculpture) from October 3-5. This competition will be a part of the NoCo Mini Maker Faire, and more information can be found here: http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e46b1e88e88f421dff7d9b5b6&id=05bc7b743b&e=1a429da5fc

And describing a new series (exhibited above) Norman writes… David Young is a fantastic artist here in Loveland who has done extensive work using spheres, what he terms ‘approximations of the unknown’.  In other words, we use spheres as  a way to help represent things we don’t fully know understand; think about models of tiny molecules and far away planets in science textbooks, all represented by spheres.  This phrase has stuck with me and I’ve started creating some work using smaller steel balls as a building block to explore ideas and people in my life I don’t understand but ‘approximate’ with the spheres.