Gardner, Steven

For the past several years the primary focus of my work has been architectural commissions. I am particularly attracted to the community interaction and the engineering that these projects typically include, as well as the sense that my work can be seen by a larger and more diverse audience than in an ordinary gallery setting.  

Both my gallery work and my architectural commissions focus on the human figure, surface pattern, and a sense of story.  I have always been fascinated by legends and myth, especially those stories that possess a sense of mystery.  In my sculptures and paintings there is an attempt to evoke that sense of the apparent and the hidden existing in the same space.

I am also interested in combining incongruous elements in my work, such as blending three-dimensional space with pictoral illusion, combining ancient stylizations with contemporary abstractions, or including refined details within a backdrop of rough surface texture.

My sculptural work is usually made with an architectural terra cotta and finished with ceramic slips and glazes.  Most pieces are fired to between cone 02 and cone 3.  Recently I have been incorporating kiln cast glass into my commissions as well as my private work. 

Bird in the Thorns Blackbird Boat Boy Fig 3A Glass Dream Mortal Coil Sinking Man in Red Boat Sleeping Woman Sleeping Woman With Bird Screen Steve Gardner show Steven Gardner Wall The Dream The Wind in the Wires side 2 The Wind Through the Wires side 1