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Richmond artist to participate in Bayou City Art Festival
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| Richmond sculptor James Keller of Foxfire Studios with the first piece in his "Evolution of the Wheel" series. |
By DIANE TEZENO
Sculptor James Keller has developed a unique artistic spin that has captured the attention of several national art galleries and secured the Richmond artist an exclusive invite to the Bayou City Art Festival in Downtown Houston, noted as one of the premiere art festivals in the country.
The juried fine art show, scheduled Oct. 18-19, from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. will feature the art work of more than 300 fine artists from around the U.S. and the world, representing 19 different art mediums.
Keller, a wood sculptor, will showcase several works from his Richmond art gallery, Foxfire Studios, in the prestigious art festival, including several pieces from his ‘Evolution of the Wheel’ series.
The festival, in its 12th year, is sponsored by city of Houston, Budweiser Select, Sweet Leaf Tea and KTRK-TV, and will be held in and around City of Houston city hall and Hermann Square on Walker, Bagby and McKinney streets as well as Sam Houston Park and the Houston Public Library downtown plaza.
A highlight of the event will be the “Art on Water” floating art display and art demonstrations from several visual artists.
Keller, who applied and was accepted to the juried art festival on his first try, was excited to receive an invitation.
“From a personal standpoint it is gratifying to be invited,” said Keller, who expressed appreciation for the creative and professional exposure the festival affords artists.
The son of a carpenter, Keller said he was paid to swing a hammer at 8 years old and ran a framing company for his father in high school, but never considered a career in art.
“Art was not on the horizon, I was not drawn to art in high school or junior high school, and don’t draw artistically at all,” said Keller.
The Richmond artist began dabbling in wood turning as a part time hobby after a 42-year career in civil engineering working on projects ranging from the NASA space shuttle, municipal infrastructure to U.S. Navy nuclear training facilities.
“I started wood turning in the early 90s because I wanted freedom from working with a set plan,” said Keller.
At the onset of his career, Keller began creating traditional pieces such as wooden salad bowls, but his artistic works took a creative turn when he was introduced to the Gulf Coast Turning Association and became intrigued by the concept of “negative space.”
Several years later he was inspired by the works of stone sculptor Jesus Morales and began creating the first piece in his “Evolution of the Wheel” series, depicting a scorched sphere representing a meteorite that penetrated the center of the form.
“What [Morales] was doing was different from any other thing that other artists were doing with sculpture,” said Keller.
Keller developed his own artistic signature through the series, moving away from the smooth curved surfaces depicted in Morales’ works to sculptures focusing on the distressed areas of wood.
“To be considered a serious artist you must have a focused body of work,“ said Keller of his debut series.
The series has expanded to include more than 60 pieces, with several works featured in various juried art shows and national art galleries.
Keller’s work is currently featured in American Art Company in Washington, Big Pagoda Company in California, the Museum Store and Wood Turning Center in Pennsylvania and the Carlyn Galerie in Dallas, among other galleries.
Locally, several of his works are featured in the Morton Street Gallery in Richmond and the Fleury Gallerey and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, in Houston.
Since retiring from a career as a civil engineering, Keller has become a full-time studio sculptor and works 8 to 9 hour days in his Richmond art studio, located at 105 South Second Street.
It takes about a month to create an average piece, said Keller.
He obtains the wood for his sculptures from the Richmond area and as far away as San Antonio and has collected a number of logs for his inventory from trees blown down by Hurricane Ike.
“People will call me and say there is a downed tree in their yard and I will go and harvest the wood,” said Keller.
The Richmond sculptor uses a variety of woods for his creations, including mesquite, pecan, ash, oak, hackberry, maple and sycamore.
“My favorite is mesquite,” said Keller, who fashioned the first piece in his Evolution series from mesquite wood.
The 65-year-old Keller has created 400-500 pieces over his career, with his works ranging from $60 for a traditional wooden salad bowl to $150 for artistic vessels to $5,000 for a wood sculpture, said the Richmond artist, who also works on commissioned art pieces.
He is currently working on a second artistic series, inspired by glass sculptor Sidney Hutter, to be fashioned from glass, to be called “The Helix” series, said Keller.
“I am excited about the opportunity to directly see how people react to my work and this show will give me an opportunity to do that.” said Keller of the art festival.
According to coordinators, the media formats at the Festival will include clay, drawing/pastel, fiber/textiles, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, watercolor and wood.
Tickets are $10 for adults and free for children 12 and under.
For additional festival information, visit www.bayoucityartfestival.com, or call 713-521-0133.
The juried fine art show, scheduled Oct. 18-19, from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. will feature the art work of more than 300 fine artists from around the U.S. and the world, representing 19 different art mediums.
Keller, a wood sculptor, will showcase several works from his Richmond art gallery, Foxfire Studios, in the prestigious art festival, including several pieces from his ‘Evolution of the Wheel’ series.
The festival, in its 12th year, is sponsored by city of Houston, Budweiser Select, Sweet Leaf Tea and KTRK-TV, and will be held in and around City of Houston city hall and Hermann Square on Walker, Bagby and McKinney streets as well as Sam Houston Park and the Houston Public Library downtown plaza.
A highlight of the event will be the “Art on Water” floating art display and art demonstrations from several visual artists.
Keller, who applied and was accepted to the juried art festival on his first try, was excited to receive an invitation.
“From a personal standpoint it is gratifying to be invited,” said Keller, who expressed appreciation for the creative and professional exposure the festival affords artists.
The son of a carpenter, Keller said he was paid to swing a hammer at 8 years old and ran a framing company for his father in high school, but never considered a career in art.
“Art was not on the horizon, I was not drawn to art in high school or junior high school, and don’t draw artistically at all,” said Keller.
The Richmond artist began dabbling in wood turning as a part time hobby after a 42-year career in civil engineering working on projects ranging from the NASA space shuttle, municipal infrastructure to U.S. Navy nuclear training facilities.
“I started wood turning in the early 90s because I wanted freedom from working with a set plan,” said Keller.
At the onset of his career, Keller began creating traditional pieces such as wooden salad bowls, but his artistic works took a creative turn when he was introduced to the Gulf Coast Turning Association and became intrigued by the concept of “negative space.”
Several years later he was inspired by the works of stone sculptor Jesus Morales and began creating the first piece in his “Evolution of the Wheel” series, depicting a scorched sphere representing a meteorite that penetrated the center of the form.
“What [Morales] was doing was different from any other thing that other artists were doing with sculpture,” said Keller.
Keller developed his own artistic signature through the series, moving away from the smooth curved surfaces depicted in Morales’ works to sculptures focusing on the distressed areas of wood.
“To be considered a serious artist you must have a focused body of work,“ said Keller of his debut series.
The series has expanded to include more than 60 pieces, with several works featured in various juried art shows and national art galleries.
Keller’s work is currently featured in American Art Company in Washington, Big Pagoda Company in California, the Museum Store and Wood Turning Center in Pennsylvania and the Carlyn Galerie in Dallas, among other galleries.
Locally, several of his works are featured in the Morton Street Gallery in Richmond and the Fleury Gallerey and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, in Houston.
Since retiring from a career as a civil engineering, Keller has become a full-time studio sculptor and works 8 to 9 hour days in his Richmond art studio, located at 105 South Second Street.
It takes about a month to create an average piece, said Keller.
He obtains the wood for his sculptures from the Richmond area and as far away as San Antonio and has collected a number of logs for his inventory from trees blown down by Hurricane Ike.
“People will call me and say there is a downed tree in their yard and I will go and harvest the wood,” said Keller.
The Richmond sculptor uses a variety of woods for his creations, including mesquite, pecan, ash, oak, hackberry, maple and sycamore.
“My favorite is mesquite,” said Keller, who fashioned the first piece in his Evolution series from mesquite wood.
The 65-year-old Keller has created 400-500 pieces over his career, with his works ranging from $60 for a traditional wooden salad bowl to $150 for artistic vessels to $5,000 for a wood sculpture, said the Richmond artist, who also works on commissioned art pieces.
He is currently working on a second artistic series, inspired by glass sculptor Sidney Hutter, to be fashioned from glass, to be called “The Helix” series, said Keller.
“I am excited about the opportunity to directly see how people react to my work and this show will give me an opportunity to do that.” said Keller of the art festival.
According to coordinators, the media formats at the Festival will include clay, drawing/pastel, fiber/textiles, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, watercolor and wood.
Tickets are $10 for adults and free for children 12 and under.
For additional festival information, visit www.bayoucityartfestival.com, or call 713-521-0133.
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