Carol Schwartz
People and in particular women are at the core of my work. The obvious contrasted by the hidden inspires my attention and informs my art.
At heart, I am a builder, having begun my adult life as an architect/designer, I am accustomed to the planning process, a process that I love. A casual encounter with people engaged in their everyday activities will spark, for me, a future sculpture. It is the ordinary that I find extraordinary.
Even the materials I use are ordinary, like carpenters woods: 4 x 4’s, 2 x 2’s, boards and discarded wood scraps make up the deeply serious yet charmingly delightful larger than life size figures I sculpt.
Paint and drawing infuses the work with life and vigor. The static poses contain a latent energy suggesting imminent movement and possibility.
Experimentation has lead me to working with a range of materials. Using plaster, burlap and wire, I sculpt handbags, integral to our lives throughout history, containing items that most important to us while hiding what we chose to hid.
With materials scarce during our sojourn with Covid, I explored what could be done with paper and cardboard, materials easy to come by. A new series emerged, one focusing on the Architecture of Clothing. It is after all the clothing we drape ourselves in that says the most about us. It is the garment we wear that relieves or conceals.
Carol Schwartz has received a number of awards and her work is in collections across the USA.
carolschwartzsculptor.com
