Sun Valley~Ketchum
GALLERY WALK EDITION Sun Valley Gallery Association
Art For The Ages BY KAREN BOSSICK
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ulie Speidel has long reached back through antiquity—to the stone and bronze-age peoples of Europe, China and Mongolia and the indigenous peoples of her native Pacific Northwest— to gather inspiration for her large-scale bronze and stone sculptures. Her latest exhibition of bronze and stainless steel sculptures reflects the erratic boulders that were left behind by the Northwest’s glaciers thousands of years ago. Gail Severn Gallery will display some of these works— saturated in red and other colors—in a solo exhibition of Speidel’s work this month. The gallery is also displaying some of Speidel’s other works, including glass, stone and bronze pieces that echo Stonehenge, Cycladic Greek fertility figures and Native American totems. “She continues to work on her other series, even as she introduces new series,” said Gail Severn, who owns the gallery at 400 1st Ave. N. in Ketchum.
Speidel’s work in 3-D began in the fifth grade. Instead of being content to create a typical poster representing Bolivia, she layered pieces of paper so thickly that they rose off the paper billowing out like the whirling skirts that Bolivian women wear. After putting her first husband through law school and raising four children, she began making jewelry. She tried sculpture and fell in love. “The first time I saw two separate pieces of bronze becoming one, it was magic,” said Speidel, who studied at the University of Grenoble in France and the University of Washington and Cornish Institute in Seattle. “Transforming hard bronze into elegant shapes was magical, and it continues to be magical.” Speidel turned to her childhood for inspiration for her sculptures. Moving to Europe when she was 12, she saw her first standing stones in Mallorca, Spain. She reveled in the glacial alleys of Scotland and the Inner Hebrides with her
stepfather, a renowned geologist. And she hiked around the stone monoliths at Stonehenge in England. She gives her pieces names of ancient sites in places like Ireland and Central America. Her work begins when a truck delivers a couple thousand pounds of bronze or stainless steel sheets to her studio. “The Farm,” as she’s dubbed it, is situated on an island in the Pacific Northwest where her grandfather built a summer home. She creates models with cardboard or foam—materials that are easy to work with. Then she begins the task of cutting perfectly matching pieces and welding and soldering joints together until she has a perfect edge. She finishes by grinding and polishing the pieces, capping them with the rich patinas for which she is known. Her work is not done in isolation. Forklifts and other heavy equipment rumble through the barn as sparks fly from torches. A handful of team members are on hand to help her with
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Jaquet To Guide Gallery Tour BY KAREN BOSSICK
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gallery owner or artist. We walk right up to the artists and the staff members. “It can be very educational. For instance, at Wood River
etired Idaho legislator Wendy Jaquet will lead a free, guided gallery walk on Friday from 5-7 p.m. The tour will start at 5 p.m. at Gilman Contemporary, 661 Sun Valley Road. From there, Jaquet, a co-founder of the Sun Valley Gallery Association, will lead art lovers through galleries on First Street, circling back toward Gilman as the evening progresses. Guests are welcome to join in Wendy Jaquet. Courtesy photo and drop out at any Fine Arts, they bring out little time. clay models and explain how the “A lot of times people go on sculptures are made,” Jaquet gallery walks and they’re a little tws said. intimidated about talking to a