Root Sculpture Maquette by Steve Tobin, 2000s

Steve Tobin is an American sculptor best known for his beyond monumental sculptures of Roots in steel or cast bronze. Trained in mathematics, Tobin has always pushed the physical boundaries of the sculptural materials he chose to work with: he made blown glass pieces too tall to stand (but they finally stood); he created 40’ tall glass waterfalls; he made his huge clay sculptures explode, revealing geode-like brightly colored glass inside. And again and again, he went back to nature for inspiration, to take molds of giant termite hills in Ghana, cast into bronze sculptures as high as 20’, or of the forest floors to make his Earth Bronzes. Tobin's monumental Steelroots, using large industrial steel pipes with painstakingly welded joints, explore the archetypal relationship between humans and nature. More recently, Tobin has created a series of highly reflective stainless steel clouds, bringing the sky down to earth, and a series of bird nests in many sizes, from miniature to monumental, in cast bronze twigs or welded steel, that hold precious eggs in stainless steel or bronze: the beginning of life.