I was born in Chicago, Illinois, 1947. There, I grew up in an environment of diverse immigrant cultures. These proud people were the manpower for the "city of broad shoulders", and they exposed me to lives comprised of struggle, hope, passion and determination. At age six I entered Catholic school and their rich traditions of liturgical music, painting, sculpture and pageantry captured my imagination. At age nineteen, I was drafted into the U.S. Army and served overseas until December 1968. I returned to the U.S. and a year later found myself in Boston, Massachusetts. The influential industrial power of my native city was succeeded by the challenging intellectual power of Boston. This city presented me with many opportunities that formed the solid foundation on which I discovered my creative potential and thus, built my artistic career. In Boston I attended the University of Massachusetts but devoted most of my time and effort to studio work. In 1971, as a founding member of The Boston Center for the Arts I was fortunate to have painted alongside artists such as Alex Elmaleh De Buenos, and Pascal Tchakmakian. I lived and worked there with many creative people including, writers and actors, composers and ballet dancers who have since left their mark on American culture. It was an exciting time and Boston was an opportune place to emerge socially and artistically.
In December 1981 I left Boston and moved westward to Seattle, Washington. The "natural forces" of the great northwest soon transformed my visual vocabulary. The closeness to nature led me to a more intimate expression of life. The multiplicity of natural forms and geologic forces in this region are compelling and to accommodate these powerful influences I eventually turned to sculpture. This medium soon represented my entire creative disposition. Sculpture best accommodated my natural desire to explore, through the human form, essential aspects of humanity within contemporary culture.
Figurative sculpture is now my primary mode of expression. Although it has been neglected in the contemporary art world, figurative sculpture, having reached through many thousands of years, need not argue its validity in the briefness of today's art trends. Quite the contrary, I believe it is the backbone of the visual arts and will endure.
Currently, along with my studio work, I teach bronze casting and when time allows, I teach sculpture privately in my studio.
The following is a selection of exhibits and collections of my work:
Philharmonic Center for the Arts, Naples, Florida
Gallery Atelier 31, Kirkland, Washington
Safeco Insurance Company, Seattle, Washington
North Seattle Community College, Seattle, Washington
Lynn McAllister Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts State college System, (traveling exhibit)
Prudential Insurance Company, Boston, Massachusetts
Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Goethe Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
Private Collections:
Pacific Northwest Partners Co., Bellevue, Washington
Nextcare Hospitals Inc., San Antonio, Texas
PNP Management Inc., Bellevue, Washington
Olympia Networking Services, Olympia, Washington
Charles Wright Academy, Tacoma, Washington
North Adams State College, North Adams, Massachusetts
Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, Vermont
Talcott Banks Collection, Lincoln, Massachusetts
Warland and Virginia Wight Collection, Lakeview, Washington
Theodore Wight Collection, Seattle, Washington
Jennifer Owen, Kansas City Ballet, K.C., Missouri
Lisa and. James Usdan, Austin, Texas
Alvy Ray Smith, Seattle, Washington
© 2001 Edward Trobec, All Rights Reserved