Lois Teicher Abstract Sculptures

“Curved Form with Space” can be considered a straightforward geometric shape that characterizes Teicher’s later works. This piece belies that description though of straightforward and geometric in its floating graceful curve suggestive of a sailboat’s main sail – full of movement and air, a sight familiar to all Michiganders and their proximity to the Great Lakes and numerous interior rivers and lakes. Lois was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, located on the Detroit River. “Curved Form with Space” is a beautifully articulated expression of the relationship between objects and space - Teicher’s foremost interest as a sculptor. The sculpture’s imposing white stainless steel form balances elegantly on one corner. Its dramatically curved shape suggests imperceptible movement. The stainless steel sheet has a diagonally placed triangle cut-out of negative space that contributes to its weightless and delicate form that nonetheless is full of energy and stability. In addition, the cut-out incorporates the surrounding environment contributing to its total acceptance into its surrounds. Note, this sculpture does not come with the stand pictured. The stand was used to hold it for photographing. Pierced sculpture has become a signature shape for Teicher and appears in a number of her works, simple shapes – rectangles, squares, circles in both modulated and brilliant colors. They defy gravity seemingly clinging effortlessly to walls and earth appearing to be held in place by surface tension. Teicher attended art school after marrying and raising children coming late to a professional identity as an artist during the 1970s at a time when she was profoundly inspired by the feminist movement. By the 1980’s she moved into her more mature work what she characterizes as “going for something deeper, larger.” She gradually eliminated details to concentrate on form, shape, concept and context rather than narrative, imagery, or surface. She made an early commitment to site-specific sculpture, an idea that grew out of “Observer/Observed” (1986), a temporary sculpture commission for Chene Park now renamed Aretha Franklin Park. Working larger and outdoors allowed her to consider the physical relationships of space to shape and shape to space. Space became a material aspect of her sculpture – how the environment works around and within a piece. Lois received her BFA from College for Creative Studies and MFA from Eastern Michigan University. She relates that her journey as an artist led her to search and understand the fundamental structure of the Universe. As she evolved as an artist she became aware of basic essential concepts, such as the existence of Time/Space continuum, and the relationship between shape and space, space and shape. Simultaneously other basic essential ideas are at play, such as duality held in dynamic tension, motion and energy. These ideas are interpreted and restated into three dimensional forms. Themes stated in her work flow directly from her search to understand and connect to the universal. Her intention with both avenues of expression, i.e. public and private sculpture, is to express ideas in the visual language, hoping that the viewer would notice, reflect upon, become aware of, and share in the experience. Her work is collected by numerous museums including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, Maxine & Stuart Frankel Foundation for Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan, the Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, Michigan and the Saginaw Art Museum, Saginaw, Michigan. Colleges and Universities that collect her work are Wayne State University, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Ferris State University, Big Rapids...