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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.
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Sculpture Commissions of Pamela Soldwedel
Quest |
A Washington, D.C. insurance executive saw my work in several art
collections. He contacted me about creating a large stone sculpture as a
birthday surprise for his wife. The plan was to place it at the end of the
new, black reflecting pool, as a focal point in part of their Georgetown
garden. We agreed that an off-white granite would not only withstand the
elements well, but would also provide a luminous presence above and on the
dark waters of the pool. After the commission was completed, his wife
requested that I create another large stone sculpture, this one from
travertine, as a birthday surprise in turn for her husband. She intended
that it crown the topmost area of their garden's unique outcropping of a
single huge deep gray rock. The rock had been covered with rich soil for the
most part, and landscaped beautifully. Needless to say, I was, and do feel
privileged to have my work be part of their lives. Strength is the result of
this second commission. |
Strength |
Third Wave |
Washington developer Oliver Carr attended one of my exhibitions. He then
commissioned me to create a large stone sculpture for one of his office
building projects, then under construction at a prestigious address inclose
proximity to the White House. He decided upon my work because he believed its
full shapes and curves could compliment and intensify the building's handsome
rectangular lines. Mr. Carr planned to have the sculpture stand in the front
lobby. For contrast with the off-white color scheme of the lobby and to
accent the dark green marble floor, Mr. Carr chose the dark green, almost
black stone that I had researched for him.
Extracting the requires 9,000 pound block from its abandoned quarry (the only
quarry containing that particular green/black stone) was an interesting
wilderness challenge, as was the subsequent need to locate another studio,
essential because 9,000 pounds would have broken the elevator of my then
studio. Meanwhile, during the search for a new permanent site, the
rigging/hauling company that helped me move the stone from the quarry,
generously allowed me to begin the carving of Third Wave in their outdoor
parking lot. This was great during the summer and early fall months, until
the extremely cold, wet, icy and snowy weather set in. Then, it became
imperative that I find an indoor work place. Thankfully, I did obtain rental
space in an old stone cutting shop that had venerable machinery including
temperamental overhead cranes, enormous cutting saws and drills, towering
stacks of immense stone blocks, and experienced and highly skilled stone
cutter/carvers ... all men who considered female artists/carvers for the
birds. After some time, we did make friends and, I'll have to admit, I
learned a lot from watching them ... including the glory of using propane
radiant heaters to cut winter's chill. And so, eventually, Third Wave was
born, delivered and installed in the lobby of Mr. Carr's building. |
Eos |
Upon seeing Third Wave a collector commissioned me to do a pink alabaster
sculpture for her new dining room. I researched and located the right shade
of stone at a quarry in Colorado. She approved the clay maquette and I
proceeded to enlarge the shape by eye. |
Odalisque ... at Dawn |
Another collector owning three of my sculptures, seeing me working on Eos,
fell in love with the translucent pink alabaster and commissioned me to do
a piece for her living room in front of her picture window. |
Search II |
Through his art consultant, a bank executive commissioned me to enlarge Search I for the executive offices of his bank. |
Fireflower II |
A well-known developer who had seen my work, asked me to make a presentation in connection with an office building project then on the drawing board. Selecting one of the maquettes, he commissioned me to enlarge it in bronze, working with his architect to aesthetically coordinate sculpture and building. While waiting for the site to become available, the client loaned Fireflower to the National Museum of Women in the Arts. |
Ishtar III |
The art consultant with whom I worked on Search II recommended my sculpture to another developer client who was looking for a large marble piece to be the focal point of the grand atrium of his office building under construction near in the rapidly growing commercial center of Tysons Corner near Washington, DC. After the client approved the enlarged plaster working model of Ishtar III, I located a sound block of the right stone in the Knoxville, TN area ... after a five month search! |
Mantra II |
A client, visited my gallery, looking for a white translucent stone to place in front of the window in her newly-remodeled New York apartment, asked me to make a sculpture resembling Mantra, (mirror finish bronze), but in crystalline alabaster. |
Stones, Shells, Waves |
A client commissioned me to create a sculpture that would include some sea stones her departed mother had collected from beaches throughout the world. I polished the stones to jewel finishes and set them in a bronze sculpture that evokes the feeling of an ocean wave. |
Echo II |
In response to a photograph of one of my sculptures in Art in America magazine, I was contacted by a prospective client who wanted to come to see my work on one of her business trips to Washington. After visiting my gallery and my studio, she commissioned me to do two works: one for her company and one for her residence. |
Sagarmatha |
All bronze sculptures are available for enlargement to monumental size.
Maquettes are available only for enlargement at prices to be determined.
| Pamela Soldwedel Art Gallery of |
| Abstract Stone Sculptures |
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.
She is fascinated by the way in which she can express her feelings working with the stones' color, texture and grain to create her abstract stone sculptures.
She labors, lovingly, her chisel biting into the rocky earth-flesh, to transmit her messages, enthralled by the ever-changing sight, sound, touch and smell of stone. |
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Ishtar III
Click above photo
to see how Ishtar
came to be
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.
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.
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