Walnut Figurative Sculptures

"Girl Sitting X" is a bronze sculpture of a nude sitting female on a wooden block. Edition 18, signed, numbered and dated on the bottom. The wooden block can be hung on a wall (come...

Evocative Brutalist modern figurative abstract bronze cast and solid walnut sculpture by an unknown artist (20th Century). Two small abstracted figures, a man and a woman, stand toge...

"Girl Sitting XIV" is a bronze sculpture of a nude sitting female on a wooden block. Edition 18, signed, numbered and dated on the bottom. The wooden block can be hung on a wall (comes with the hinges to hang up on the wall). The sculptress Susanne Kraisser is to be considered as part of the great modern figurative tradition. She was born in 1977 in Rosenheim, Southern Germany. She studied both at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg and the University of Arts in Bremen. She graduated with distinction in 2007 in Nuremberg and received her Diploma with distinction in 2008 in Bremen. She has won numerous awards and exhibits nationally as well as internationally. Artist Statement: For me, sculpture is particularly shape and material, volume and size, space, movement and statics. I focus on the ‘female body’, presenting it either as an intimate miniature or on a monumental scale – each time as a solitary figure. In terms of content, my work focuses on identifying and combining polarities, such as instability and strength, fragility and solidity, activity and passivity, movement and statics, balance and volume, and dependence and autarchy. I work predominantly with the materials bronze, aluminium and wood. The small miniatures are made from wax and are then cast in bronze as part of what is known as the wax smelting process. Large-scale pieces are similarly cast in aluminium or created directly out of wood. The various work processes and tools determine the appearance of the surface; for wax, it’s my hands, and for wood, it’s my chainsaw. Each material is a new challenge for me. My previous wood-sculpting studies involved respecting the material’s limits to create craft of solid quality in keeping with the material. But this is where the intense discussion and its limit become clear. I fight with the material, and a lot of things go wrong. It becomes my opponent, whose limits I test out and reset if necessary. Cautious movements requiring a lot of physical tension are maintained without losing their inner dynamics. Amidst the often harmonious external form is a harsh dissonance evidenced by the rough, fragmented design...

"Girl Sitting VIII" is a bronze sculpture of a nude sitting female on a wooden block. Edition 18, signed, numbered and dated on the bottom. The wooden block can be hung on a wall (c...

"Small Sitting Figure V" is a bronze sculpture of a sitting nude female on a white wooden frame. Edition 18, signed, numbered and dated on the back. The wooden block can be hung on ...

"Small Sitting Figure XXII" is a bronze sculpture of a sitting nude female on a white wooden frame. Edition 18, signed, numbered and dated on the back. The wooden block can be hung ...

"Small Sitting Nude XXI" is a bronze sculpture of a nude sitting female on a white wooden frame. Edition 18, signed, numbered and dated on the bottom. The wooden block can be hung o...

"Girl Sitting XI" is a small free-standing bronze sculpture of a couched nude female on a yellow lemon. Edition 18, signed, numbered and dated on the bottom. The sculptress Susanne...

Inspired by amateur archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann who discovered Troy and by past elaborate hoaxes like that of the Piltdown Man, Joshua travels the world performing sta...

"Sitting Girl on Panel" is a bronze sculpture of a nude sitting female on a rustic panel. Edition 30, signed, numbered and dated on the back. The rustic panel can be hung on a wall ...

"Small Sitting Figure VIII" is a bronze sculpture of an elongated nude female on a white wooden frame. Edition 18, signed, numbered and dated on the ba...

Bronze heron by American sculptor Wayne Williams. Signed and dated 1993. Edition 2/2. Mounted on a walnut base. From Finger Lakes Magazine 2001: Art is everywhere in the Finger Lakes. Inspired by the region’s diverse scenery and lifestyles, artists pursue their creativity outdoors, in studios and in workshops. In the many well-established museums and galleries or at the newer fledgling arts organizations, a wide array of artistic styles and talents are represented. Often the artists, like Wayne Williams, share their artistic skill and passion through teaching at local colleges. Williams, who is retired after a 35-year career at Finger Lakes Community College, found his calling there. “I didn’t want to teach in public schools,” explains Williams of his career choice. “I wanted to be at the college level. CCFL (the Community College of the Finger Lakes, as it was then known) was literally creating a college, right from scratch.” The year was 1968 and Williams was charged with coordinating the new college’s art program. Rand Darrow, a CCFL student in that first year, remembers attending Williams’ art classes in a commercial building on Main Street just south of the railroad tracks in Canandaigua. Darrow appreciated his instructor’s relaxed manner. “He was a great teacher,” recalls Darrow, “cracking jokes all the time.” Darrow graduated with a major in Liberal Arts and continued on to SUNY Oswego where he earned a BA in fine arts. He taught art to elementary and middle school students for 30 years. These days Williams and Darrow typically cross paths at the Wayne County Arts Council in Newark where Williams and his wife, Marleen, are heavily involved. Williams offers classes in figure drawing and sculpture and hangs the gallery’s shows, including his former student’s “Slavic Tales of Novgorod” this past August. “I’d like to take a sculpture class from him,” says Darrow. In 2003 when Williams retired, the college honored him and another retiring art professor, Tom Insalaco, by renaming its art gallery the Williams-Insalaco Art Gallery. It was known formerly as Gallery 34 to recognize its origins at 34 North Main Street in Canandaigua. Williams held professor’s rank from 1976 and served as director of the art gallery beginning with its opening in 1983. Williams, who was born and raised in Newark, New York, says he began doing art at about age 8. By the time he was in junior high school his career direction seemed clear. He received local and national awards for his art and a scholarship to Syracuse University, from which he graduated in 1958 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture. He continued with graduate work at Syracuse, receiving an MFA in sculpture in 1962. He worked full time as a sculptor until he began teaching. At one point Williams admits he wanted to be a painter, but didn’t want to adopt the abstract expressionist style in vogue in the 1950s, preferring to pursue the realist tradition. He advises any would-be artist to “do what you do because you love it.” After graduation he traveled abroad, spending time in Belgium, the land of his ancestors. “My family’s name was originally Willems,” explains the 73-year old who still relishes the time spent in the Flemish countryside. Williams speaks excitedly about art, referencing the lives of great artists. He acknowledges that American artists do not have the same stature as those in Europe, where Old Masters like Brueghel and Rembrandt are national heroes. These days the energetic Williams, known primarily as a sculptor, is active at the Phelps Arts Center where he is on the board of directors. In mid-September when a group of visitors on a motor coach tour explored artworks displayed in the beautiful church-turned- gallery, they were treated to a large number of Williams’ bronze and metal sculptures, along with his charcoal drawings. “I’ve always loved his work because he deals with things, people, and animals you understand,” says the center’s Director Emeritus Marion Donnelly, who has known him for many years. Outside the Phelps Community Historical Society, Williams’ life-size figure of a farmer raises his pitchfork above a colorful flower garden on the front lawn. Inspired by the peasants working the fields in Europe, the metal figure is shown with wooden shoes. This is Williams’ largest copper piece, loaned to the Phelps museum in connection with Artistry in Sculpture, a community exhibition in 2009. Williams added a new base using a metal wagon...