JIM WEITZEL, furniture builder/sculptor

I create art because I must. I tend to move from one media to another as my life shifts and changes, for the last few years I’ve been creating pieces of furniture out of wood used in a natural organic way, building things such as benches and tables. My working method is to locate wood that is unique and like a found object, wood that is cast off from sawmills or recycled from old buildings. I’ve also produced work that is made from wood and other materials such as fiberglass, paint, and found objects. These are very contemporary in nature. Things like lamps and C.D. towers that are painted and have modern design.

Over the last fifteen-years I have produced a body of sculptures in a somewhat similar fashion. Pieces that are more natural such as carvered and altered wood along side works made from Styrofoam covered by fiberglass and vivid paint. My last series of sculptures are outdoor works made from cement over a wire armature. My next ideas call for the stacking of alternating woods that I will caver into shapes and vessels. My statement that I must create art is true, it began when I was young and drew from the comics then as a teenager I began to make art of a more serious nature and moved on to art school. Ever sense that time my work has continued to refine and grow. I’m not interested in making the same work over and over. My interest is in pushing my work and myself to new horizons. The two are inseparable, so I keep working. In the near future I hope that I will be able to make a living as an artist. I see myself continuing to produce functional work along with sculpture and paintings. In this future my plan is to make large-scale pieces with the goal of having these in the public and corporate domain.