New Sculpture - Bridge

Bridge by Jeff Owen

My Sculptors Life

My sculptors life began simply enough. During a family move from the country to the city in 2001, I was in charge of the garage clean-out and I spotted an unused welder in the corner of the garage. I inquired to my father in law Chet if I could "play" with his old welder. "No way", he said. "That's for my son Dayle", he continued. Dayle overheard Chet and said "I don't want that old thing".

That was my queue. "So Chet", I said. "I want it, so can I have it? You're not using it anymore." I received a scowl and a “humph”, but he reluctantly agreed and I promptly put that old welder into my truck.

I took the welder to the welding shop and had them check it out. They cleaned it up and told me it was fine to use. Now came the fun part!

What should I weld? I didn't have any metal lying around so I called by brother in law to see if he could help me acquire some. We went some metal yards and I finally found just the right piece. It was a flat sheet of steel and I was going to make a really cool sculpture from it.

Two weeks later I finally decided what I was going to make. "I will make a sign!" I said. I drew out the letters on the steel and began cutting. I was in LOVE.

I began experimenting with abstract form, dreaming up shapes I could cut and weld together in an interesting pattern. I played with pieces of steel that I found on subsequent trips to the metal yard. I "played" for hours making anything I wanted to make.

I started my website and posted photos of my sculptures, saying silently to myself, "People will buy these.”

I went on the internet to see if anyone was making sculptures like mine. That is when I discovered that what I was doing was called "direct metal welding". I dug deeper on the internet and discovered someone who was copying my style, a guy named David Smith.

Well this David Smith was copying many of my ideas and I was upset. A lot of his photos were black and white, so that was the trigger that told me that it was the other way around. I learned more about David Smith. I studied his work, read about his life, and my jaw dropped when I learned that he died in a motor vehicle accident.

David Smith is one of America’s most famous sculptors. His artwork is in hundreds of museums and private collections all over the world. He worked prolifically, was in galleries, and had many artist associates.

One of my goals is to become as famous as David Smith. I am working feverishly to establish myself in the art world. I am constantly striving to make my sculpture have a presence. I want my sculptures in museum collections throughout the world.

I currently have my sculptures in over 45 of the United States, one in England, and one in Switzerland. Most of my "Collectors" own more than one "OWEN" and many purchase more than one piece at a one time.

Many of my first time collectors discover me during an art event. With their mouths open gazing at one of my pieces, they immediately look for their significant other, keeping one eye on the sculpture. They appear captivated and dazed. Often they will say to me, "Where in the world did you come from? I haven't seen you before". This is my favorite time, when I am "discovered" by someone for the first time.

Being an artist, I had never been able to express myself as much as I do now with steel. I put emotion and dreams and random thoughts into all my work. I am often amazed when I step back and look at what I have created. I often get goose bumps when I finish a piece and prepare to photograph it, thinking ahead as to the moment that I will send out my email with a photo of the new piece - like a proud father.

I name my sculptures almost immediately upon their completion, usually a name that just jumps out at me. There are times that I have named a sculpture while I am still working on it. This is exciting because I then have a path to travel to its completion with a reference already attached.

I am constantly searching for discarded pieces of metal throughout the state of California, and beyond. I travel to metal yards with eager open eyes seeking that interesting shape or unusual color. Often I'll hold up a piece of found steel and see the finished sculpture in my mind’s eye. Sometimes I'll find a piece of steel and bring it back to my studio where it will lay in wait until I "discover" what it was meant to be - what it will become.

I love digging through my studio and finding some long forgotten piece of steel that I look at and say "I remember you! I found you at...”. There is a lot of excitement in my shop when I am working (playing). I'll get creating to music, be it classical or country. I'll hum along to the song without regard for time. There is no time to think of time when I am working, it all melds into a sculpture.

Sometimes I'll paint a sculpture, thinking that a color here or there will add a substance that I want to see. Like David Smith, I believe that my sculptures are also paintings, whether they are painted or not, and that my paintings are also sculpture - where does one end and another begin?

I do not tell anyone what to think of my sculpture. It is the viewers' personal experience. They may like it, love it, or not understand it at all. My sculptures are my visions, my reality, my mark on the world. There is not piece that is "made" with the thought of another, they come from deep inside me and erupt to life.

I'll often say, "I don't sell my sculptures, people buy them". I could never convince anyone to purchase one of my sculptures if the sculpture itself did not affect them in some way. No amount of salesmanship would do to promote my work to someone who did not find a piece they did not fall in love with.

I'll often envision a sculpture while doing something mundane, such as driving down a long stretch of highway. I'll jot down notes or scribble something on any scrap of paper available. Sometimes from a deep sleep I will bolt straight up, run out to my office and draw something I saw in my mind - these are often the most interesting of my sculptures, completely free from a thinking design - brought out from my unconscious mind.

I am getting bolder, bigger, and larger with my sculpture. Will that change the style of my sculpture or how I make sculpture in the future? Probably. Good! I love change and discovery; I love new thoughts and design. I believe that I have nowhere to go but forward and continue this vision of my life through the sculptures I create.

www.JeffOwenArtworks.com

Large Wall Sculpture for Incline Village

I've been working on a large wall sculpture for a client in Incline Village, NV. A 7 foot by 3.5 foot abstract of playing card suits. It's looking great. Cold Rolled sheet steel with backing. Will look great in the dining room.

I should be installing it in 2 weeks or so. Will look great in place.

I am working on more of this type of work, in HOT rolled steel with my own completely abstract patterns, patterns that I create on the computer with a pen tablet using Adobe Illustrator.

I can't wait to get another sheet and get something great going.

Jeff Owen at the Los Gatos - Fiesta de Artes on August 15th and 16th!

I hope you can come if you are in town. This is the PREMIER arts festival in the Los Gatos area! I'll be bringing all my latest work and, remember, sculpture always looks best in 3D, so you have to come if you want to see it in it's full glory!

Come see me at the Marin Art Festival July 20-21, 2009

I'll be at the Marin Art Festival this weekend in space #C3. If you have the chance to come up and see me, please do. I'll be heading up tomorrow to bring all my work up there for the show, having lunch, then heading back home, for an early morning trip on Saturday for the show!

Here's the press release:

Jeff Owen will be at the Marin Art Festival with over 200 other artists. The show puts on great food, music, and entertainment with stilt walkers, roving musicians, a lottery drawing. Saturday is “Salsa” day; Sunday is “Swing”. Come on by and enjoy great weather and great art. Come see Jeff Owen’s unique abstract sculptures, at “booth C3”. Jeff Owen will showing his sculptures in the sculpture areas next to the lagoon. For all you romantics… STEEL is the gift of love for your 11th wedding anniversary!

Jeff Owen is known for his unique abstract steel sculptures using found metal. Jeff Owen’s sculptures were selected for the GBK VIP Gift Suite at the 2009 Golden Globes Awards, and won awards locally at Carmel, Palm Springs, and Los Gatos and more recently at Pajaro Valley Art Council, SCULPTURE IS: 2009 IN THE GARDEN, at Sierra Azul Nursery and Garden in Watsonville. His sculptures are displayed in indoor and outdoor corporate and individual collections nationwide and internationally. Jeff Owen's sculptures can also be viewed at the The Museums of Los Gatos Gallery in Los Gatos (24 N Santa Cruz Ave), his home gallery, and online at www.jeffowen.com. Call or email to visit his gallery and see ALL of his sculptures in person! Check out his twitter. http://twitter.com/jeffmonoxide

Jeff Owen describes his art as the past combined into the present, mingling of age, time, and space into congruent single form, the many into one. His technique is brute force, decide-at-the-moment. His creative process emerges with patterns that he incorporates into all of his sculptures. He creates art that is completely unique, something no one has done before. He resists conformity and mass production and that his art is as individual as he is.

Jeff Owen has recently collaborated with glass artist Marc Demian to create metal-glass sculptures. Marc Demian’s intimate knowledge of ceramics as a son of a respected potter, allows him to create unique molds to achieve unusual shapes in glass. Growing up with an artist has given him an adventurous curiosity, mixing glass with clay, metal and wood. Currently, he is exploring textured and patterned glass in high relief. Marc Demian intends his work to be joyful in spirit and sophisticated in rendition. His work can be seen in fine galleries around the country and in private collections around the world. www.demianglass.com

Jeff Owen at the Los Altos Rotary Club Art Show

This is a BIGGIE! The Los Altos Rotary Art Show is one of the finest art shows in US. Only fine art AND only by the artist. I'll be bringing as much as I can, so bring your credit cards to get the best before it's all gone.

The Los Altos Rotary Art Show is May 16th and 17th, 2009 in Los Altos at Lincoln Park.

You've got to come see me!!!

City of Santa Clara, Art in Public Places

My two pieces, "Man" and "Obelisk" have been accepted by the city of Santa Clara, CA to be on display in City Hall. The show will run from January 16th, 2009 until July 31st, 2009.

Jeff Owen at "Lorraine Lawson Fine Arts" in Campbell, CA

I am now in the "Lorraine Lawson Fine Arts" gallery in Campbell, CA, at 295 East Campbell Avenue, in downtown Campbell. Come by and see my sculptures in a gallery that I share with Lorraine Lawson, an incredible artist and business woman. Come to Campbell on the third Friday of each month for "Art Walk in Campbell". All the galleries are open late on this special evening. Also, the first Friday of each month is "First Fridays" with live music and stores open late. I can't wait to see you there.

Thanks,
Jeff