Artist Statement of Pamela Soldwedel | Abstract & Contemporary Sculpture in Metal and Stone by Pamela Soldwedel

sidebar

Pamela Soldwedel has a spiritual connection with stone. She is inspired by its ancient life history. It was once very much alive, and the artist's goal is to revitalize its massive strength in her abstract sculpture, through transforming the seemingly immutable material into soft forms with supple movements.

Soldwedel abstract metal and bronze sculpture captures the movement of the waters in her flowing forms. Sleekly patinated or mirror finishes, intensified by the rough contrast of her carefully tooled striations, express wind-ruffled ocean surfaces, churning ocean depths, and foam flecked waves.

Pamela Soldwedel's sculptures have evolved into fresh new dimensions with her mixed media abstractions...joinings of layered stone and metal, plastics, glass and wood bring a multitude of expressions to her creations.

Artist Statement of Pamela Soldwedel

"Listen, there is a turning, all things are turned to a roundness,
wherever there is an end from it springs a beginning."

Hotel Universe, Philip Barry

Endings and beginnings, cycles of grief and joy – human instincts and emotions too basic or complex to articulate in a figurative manner – appear to me as abstract shapes. Smooth, swirling, undulating forms, most with harsh-faced or carefully textured accents can suggest more meaning and contain more enigma than the specifically representational. Through the use of organic shapes in stone, metal and mixed media recalling humans or animals without specifically simulating either, I seek to incorporate the passion, mystery and ambiguity that is central to human experience.

My first love was stone: all stones … then I became fascinated, as well, by metal casting processes; followed by involvement with mixed media … every durable matter available to best interpret essences of timely thoughts and emotions … and to help me in the stories I tell and the statements I make. Above all, I enjoy the challenge of using seemingly immutable materials to stir a viewer’s mind; and the fact that these extremely hard substances provide reassuring permanence.

In many of my sculptures, I have sought overall continuity of line. However, others display breaks, representing disrupted life cycles. Sections have been split or sliced open symbolizing trauma. Recent works include the addition of weeping bronze tears to accentuate the pain of separation from a loved one; an emotional crisis; an illness or physical disability wrenching enough to cause breakdown of spirit or body. These potentially distressing sculptures, nevertheless, are filled with hope. Close examination reveals that the separations are made in such a way that they may be rejoined. Life continues, although scarred, and the strengthened spirit resumes its cyclical journey.

Pamela Soldwedel

Ishtar III

Click above photo
to see how Ishtar
came to be

For the viewer, something different and fascinating is presented from every angle and every change of light, especially so due to the sculptor's intriguing use of sinuous shapes in her abstract sculptures.

These mixed media sculpture abstractions capture adventurous essences of nature. Lyrical in movement, they are well composed and as beautifully finished as fine jewelry. Each piece gives delight to the eye and touch, and seems imbued with a life of its own. Delicately poised on a minute footprint, there is a sense of tension...there's mystery...there's surprise.