Sculptor Liz Wolf was raised in Minnesota in a home eclectically decorated in her mother’s bohemian style and taste for Asian art. “There were Buddhas in cases 5 feet high, Japanese armor and pottery items…nothing was normal visually in our home,” says Wolf, adding that this was in the era when housewives wrapped their furniture in plastic. “Creativity was always around me and I gladly invited it in.”
Liz Wolf, Seeing Eye to Eye, bronze, 19 x 12 x 11"
This attraction to the ancient traditions, symbols, stories and beliefs of cultures outside of her own persists to this day and animates the powerful bronze figures, animals and hybrids she creates today. Wolf treads lightly when it comes to portraying Native American subject matter, as she does in Seeing Eye to Eye, which depicts a pueblo Koshare clown communing with a raven—two tricksters plotting together.“My proximity to prehistoric and primitive art has always been a part of me,” says Wolf. “I have such strong ties with certain imagery, I just want to go with them.”
Ancient Soul is an ode to the buffalo, which gave all of itself to provide for the earliest inhabitants of the Americas. The anthropomorphized animal stands upright, a blanket wrapped around its shoulders. “I don’t know why I put animal heads on human bodies,” she laughs. “Maybe I wish we had what they have.”
Troy Collins, A Divine Connection, oil, 46 x 60"
She pours her great reverence for and connection to the animal kingdom directly into her work in the belief that if you imbue a piece with that much of oneself, a spirit will live on in the object.
“[I don’t have children] but to me creating a piece is like giving birth. I put so much into it that it can’t just sit as an inanimate object. That to me is the heart of my artwork—I really feel that in everything there is a soul and spirit.”
Wolf’s sculptures will be joined by the dynamic paintings of Montana artist Troy Collins. His use of bold color and equally bold palette knife strokes create a sense of movement and energy that could sweep a viewer away, which is very much the effect he is hoping to achieve.
Troy Collins, Falling Leaves, oil, 24 x 24"
As he notes in his artist statement, “My goal as an artist is to move the viewer to experience a flood of powerful emotions, to feel the energy that flows through me as I put brush to canvas: to convey my love of art and to passionately captivate and to inspire each person that views my paintings.”
Liz Wolf, Ancient Soul, bronze, 20 x 7 x 7"
“Troy is such a wonderful flat artist,” says Mockingbird Gallery owner Jim Peterson. “His bold and strong paintings are nicely complimented by Liz Wolf’s sculptural creations. The way they both harmonize nature with their unique styles, coloration and captivating subjects lends them to show very well together. It is always enjoyable to see how a sculpture will look with a painting in a space, and these two together are always very pleasing to the eye.”
Heart & Soul opens on October 6, during First Friday Art Walk from 5 to 8 p.m. and will be on view through the end of the month. —
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