Kathy Venter – contemporary figurative sculptor

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Hola!!!

I am writing you in the evening from La Manzanilla, Mexico. I am sitting outside a small internet place near where I stay listening to the roar of crickets, local music blaring, saying buenas noches to passersby as I write. Wonderful (and distracting!)!

 

Before I left home,  I was trying to decide who and what to write about for this blog. My good friend and model Andrea sent me a photograph of the finished sculpture by Kathy Venter for which she has been modeling. So I thought, why not write about Kathy?

 

Kathy Venter, an internationally recognized sculptor represented by leading galleries in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, San Francisco, Seattle, Palm Desert, lives and works on Salt Spring Island. She is preparing for a show called Life, to be exhibited at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto, which will include about 30 sculptures. I decided to visit Kathy and ask her about her work before I headed south. I had questions like how does her earlier life in South Africa play into the sculptures and why does she sculpt figures. Unfortunately, she wasn’t at her studios and I came away emptyhanded. Nevertheless, I decided to proceed with my blog about Kathy because once I started thinking about her life size sculptures and their affect on me, I felt I’d like to share them with you.

 

Going to Kathy’s own website, I found that her work is divided into groups. The Coup d’Oeil series are made up up standing figures of young women. I have seen some of these in her studio. Coup d’Oeil means a glance taking in a comprehensive view – an appropriate title don’t you think?

 

KATHY VENTER, “Coup d’Oeil Series 2,” 68 x 21 x 20 in, poychromed ceramic

 

KATHY VENTER, “Coup d’Oeil Series 3,” 71 x 28 x 21in, polychromed ceramic
KATHY VENTER, “Coup d’Oeil Series 5,” 71 x 21 x 17in, polychromed ceramic

 

I look at Kathy’s sculptures and am struck by their serenity and dignity.

 

They are sculpted from real people of this time and place but as I wander around them I feel as if they are of another world, some with a direct and unwavering outward gaze into that world, some with an inward inspection. I am reminded of the formality and strength of the Greek caryatids, massive female sculptures that serve as architectural support in place of columns.

 

EXAMPLE of Caryatid from the British Museum

 

Another series is called One/Revision and includes both standing and seated female figures.

 

KATHY VENTER, “Tall Cotton,” 2007, 53 x 23 x 42 in, Terracotta, white and blue gypsum cement, and wood

 

KATHY VENTER, “Sun,” 2007, 50 x 20 x 32 in, Terracotta, polychrome gypsum cement, and wood

 

KATHY VENTER, “Here and There,” 2007, 54 x 20 x 28 in, Terracotta, white and yellow gypsum cement, and wood

 

Unlike the caryatids however, these life-sized sculptures are individual. You might be able to recognize these young women on the street. They are not idealized or portrayed in a sweet manner or behaviour. Some sit and some stand. They appear to be young women of all shapes, comfortable with their own bodies. They gaze out, daring us to judge, to size them up, to compare them to today’s narrow definition of beauty.

And yet as we examine these young women from all angles and see that their looks don’t necessarily fit into society’s mold, their beauty, the beauty of women content in themselves, at peace with who they are, bowls us over.

 

KATHY VENTER, “Batavia,” 73 x 25 x 18 in, Terracotta, polychrome gypsum cement, and wood

 

KATHY VENTER, “Occupy,” 68 x 25 x 18 in, Terracotta, polychrome gypsum cement

 

The addition of hydra stone (cement, plaster and colour) after firing and consequent sandblasting provides a colourful rough addition to the figures. Obscuring the smoother terracotta in places, I see this as the process of life layering on its experience, making for a much more interesting whole both physically and emotionally.

 

Another interpretation might be one of emergence from the scarring of life, now a purified being. This idea is referenced in Kathy’s own words:

“Abstraction, which is introduced in the surface treatment, is a casing from which the figurative forms emerge, enhanced and invigorated by this escape.”

 

The idea for the addition of this lava-textured coating came to Kathy after seeing the Tanagra figures of ancient Greece, terracotta sculptures that emerged from thousands of years of burial in the earth, with their covering of white slip and colour abraded and eroded.

 

EXAMPLE OF TANAGRA FIGURE, Statuette of woman, 3rd century BC, Greek, terracotta, 7.75″

 

In another of Kathy’s series, the Immersion Series, which are very different from the standing and seated figures, I cannot help but wonder how she sculpted them. Kathy uses a coil method, building up the figure in a hollow form in a technique she developed.  For these suspended figures – where did she start the work? Where was the bulk of the weight while she developed them (before they were hung from cables)? How did these models pose underwater? I am curious!!

 

KATHY VENTER, “Immersion 17,” 72 x 43 x 54 in, Terracotta, polychrome gypsum cement

 

KATHY VENTER, “Immersion II,” 64 x 27 x 29 in,Terracotta, polychrome gypsum cement

This is what Kathy herself says about these Immersion pieces:

“The sculptures are made from studies of my models underwater. Water refers to another dimension, an altered state of consciousness – the spiritual. Figures in water react differently to sound, light, gravity and movement. The human experience under water is cocoon-like – as if transformed back to the womb and in a private world of its own. The sharpened intent is on the diminished effect of gravity on the figure, the free movement of the limbs and the evidence of the pressure of the surrounding water on clothing, hair and face.

Suspended by cables in space, the sculptures are experienced by the viewer from all angles – including underneath – freeing the work from its traditional pedestal, form, mass and weight.”

 

Kathy’s newest piece involves two figures: a seated one and the artist who draws her from floor level (modeled by my good friend Andrea – who you’ve seen in my own work). Here the artist observes and draws the model before her. I see her as representing the creator in us all, taking in what is seen and experienced and defining and refining and communicating her vision, her perception, her story. She is on the ground with reverence for and in gratitude to both subject and creation.

To see some great process photos and to hear about the whole process from the model’s perspective, check out Andrea’s own life modeling blog.

 

KATHY VENTER, “Woman Drawing,” life size

 

For more information , have a look at Kathy’s illuminating video.

 

In the Gardiner Museum write-up, a few other historical sources are mentioned beyond the Tanagra figures: the terracotta warriors of Ancient China, Ancient Egyptian sculpture, the Amakweta tribal initiation rites, and the art of Marino Marini and Viola Frey. I was most  curious about the Amakweta intitian rites and found this link to images of boys after circumcision and I can see the influence – the white over terracotta colour. You can see Marini’s fabulous sculpture at this link to the museum with his name. The source I found most curious was Viola Frey. Have a look at the example below.

 

Viola Frey, “Stubborn Woman with Orange Hands”

 

And here’s a link to a bit more info on Viola Frey, an artist I had never heard of before.

I should mention that I took a number of these images from one of Kathy’s galleries – A New Leaf Gallery // Sculpture Site.

 

I have been acquainted with Kathy and her work for many years. She and her husband Deon used to own the Venter Galleries on Salt Spring, showing other artists along with their work. Once they were picked up by big galleries (eg Bushlen Mowatt) they could close the gallery and concentrate on what they do best. And that’s a grand thing!!

 

KATHY VENTER with some of her creations

 

I’d love to know what you think of Kathy’s sculptures. I always value your comments.

 

Until next time!

 

~ Gail

 

 

PS. Andrea and I managed to cross over one evening in Mexico: I arrived in La Manzanilla at 6pm and she left the village at 2:30 the next day.

 

Here’s the tanned Andrea just before leaving El Estudio for the airport. (Darn that shadow of the clothes line across her face!)

 

6 thoughts on “Kathy Venter – contemporary figurative sculptor”

  1. joanne Sibley

    Having seen Kathy’s work at her studio I am even more impressed by the examples you show and I think its probably the plain dark value backdrop which makes the figures even more amazing. The emersion figure is unbelievable.

    1. Yes, the black backdrop sets them off so beautifully. After writing this blog, I am looking forward to seeing and being with the sculptures again. Mindyou, any day now they will be shipped off to the Gardiner…..

  2. Kathy’s sculptures are even more powerful when seen up close. If you are in Toronto this summer stop in at the Gardiner Museum to see her exhibition which opens to the public on May 30th.

  3. Excellent. Once again you exhibit your skill as a teacher. If I continue long enough I will be well educated. Always leaves me waiting for the next submission. Thanks

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