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Member Profile:
"My art is a record of my relentless search for the Divine Mother. I continually attempt to coax the Divine from Her hiding places - from the stone, the steel, the glass, the wood with which I sculpt - using the heart, the mind, the will, the hands which are in the tools She has given me." Gordy was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, back in the days before zip codes. In the time when Grand Rapids, MN was always getting confused with Grand Rapids, MI. Interested in art for as long as he can remember, Gordy was turned on to "fine art" during a high school field trip to Bemidji State College. When he saw the huge paintings on exhibit, he knew right then and there that he wanted to be an artist. After pursuing a degree in art, he taught art in the public schools in Indiana at the elementary school level. He loved teaching the children and compares it to "playing all day long." Gordy has carried that passion for teaching art to children into his involvement in youth art through the Sonoran Arts League's programs to foster art education. So, how did he get to where he is today? Starting out with a bit of painting during college, Gordy quickly realized that sculpture was his love. Moving to Arizona in 1974, Gordy started working with cast concrete. He created forms in clay and then made plaster molds of the clay and replaced the clay with poured concrete. Embedding pieces of steel and found objects in the clay and including them in the final casting enabled him to create sculptures that combined the various materials. These are several of his works from that initial period of his career: By the mid-1980s, Gordy had moved into working with steel, copper, and stone. His sculptures began reflecting his translating spiritual concepts into solid models... something of substance. His ideas come from the very material itself. "The Other Side" is Gordy's translation of the esoteric astral plane into his vision. As the building boom picked up momentum in Arizona, Gordy found his work in demand, not only as pure art, but also as architecturally decorative items. His sculpture has adorned such locations as the Radisson at Fort McDowell and even our very own Carefree Town Center. Gordy donated that piece seen in the two right hand pictures below to help start the Sonoran Arts League scholarship fund. His architectural creations can be seen in many of the premier homes in the valley in the form of wood carving, sand blasted glass, gates and railing. All work and no play doesn't suit Gordy, so he has his whimsical side as well, and in a takeoff on Picasso's famous quote of "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child", Gordy likes to say that he's been trying his entire life to get his art to look like what comes from the mind of a child. He might just be there... :) |
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