Kevin Shunn, in his element |
By Christy Schicker |
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The exhibit includes six pieces of sculpture and six drawings based on those sculptures. The sculptures are made primarily of natural elements such as wood, iron, rocks and small tree branches. Some of the pieces exhibit smooth refinement, while others are more roughly hewn. Throughout the entire exhibit, similarity and repetition of form and structure pull the pieces together into a cohesive harmony. Shunn's aim was to get a visual dialogue from piece to piece, said Matt Kleinberg, student curator of the Cecille R. Hunt Gallery. Shunn was born and raised in Wyoming and spent much of his youth on his grandparents' ranch. "It was on the ranch that I was allowed to work and explore the world around me," Shunn said in his autobiographical statement. "The things in which I came in contact with from nature and the everyday implements my family used to complete tasks intrigued me." This interest in nature becomes apparent through Shunn's work. The "Collaborative Sculpture" is set outside. It has a rounded iron shell at its base with encircling tree branches extending from the ground. The tall, linear branches lead the eye to the top of the sculpture, which has many smaller tree branches intertwined creating a nest-like formation. The sculpture slightly suggests a tribal work. Shunn made this sculpture at an iron pour while visiting the Webster University campus, Kleinberg said. Shunn brought his own cupola, a furnace used for melting iron before casting. The pouring took two hours, yet the iron took two days to cool. The sculpture "Courier" is connected to the wall by a very small piece of wood and displays great balance and stability. A slender, curving wooden pole sticks out from the wall and drapes a basket-like form made of small pieces of bent wood tied together. A pile of dark stones lies on the ground beneath the basket. The eye moves down this sculpture form the graceful bending wood to the rounded stones, and back up again, tying together seemingly disparate parts.
Kleinberg said that Shunn didn't want to give the viewer a preconceived notion about what a particular sculpture represents. Viewers are encouraged to generate their own responses and interpretations. "These objects possess an ambiguous recognition. The suggestion of the objects' origin is implied, but not completely defined to the viewer," Shunn said in his artist's statement. "Al-lure pulled" is a sculpture that lies on the ground and is made of a large, hollow shell of wood attached to a rope loosely draped across the floor. The hollow shell form is smooth and refined made of thin, overlaying strips of patchwork wood. The wooden form of "Al-lure pulled" is echoed in another sculpture. An iron form in "Ponderbrush" mimics the wooden-shell form in "Al-lure pulled." This iron piece is attached to the wall and has a long wooden pole extending from it. This wooden pole flanks the wall and has at the opposite free-hanging end a circular bristle-brush form made of thin wire. The bristle-brush motif is echoed in another piece, "lorn/forlorn." This drawing done in charcoal pencil and chalk atop a gesso background depicts rocks, a wooden cage motif, as in "Courier," and forms resembling the wire bristles in "Ponderbrush." Some of Shunn's other pieces, such as "Drawing #3," show his emerging interest in the shapes of bugs. Work by Kevin Shunn will be on display until Dec. 18. The Cecille R. Hunt Gallery is located at Webster University, 8342 Big Bend Blvd., St. Louis. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and by appointment. The gallery is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Webster University art department at (314) 968-7171. | |
Work by sculptor and master carpenter Kevin Shunn is now on display at Webster University's Cecille R. Hunt Gallery.
"Drawing #2" is a study for the sculpture "Vestulary" which is also in the exhibit. "Vestulary" resembles a house made of vertical strips of wood with tar paper for a shingle roof. A mound of bronze and dark stones sit inside the sculpture on different levels. No doors or windows are placed on the house, so the stones cannot be reached and can only be contacted visually.