Dan Woodard
Dan Woodard is a San Francisco Bay Area sculptor. He draws from his subconscious and his interest in the worlds of archetypes, myths, and rituals to create both abstract and figurative sculptures. The act of creating has long been a driving force in her life. After designing and building her own home entirely by hand and creating a sustainable, organic life style in rural Massachusetts, Dan worked as a fine art photographer with shows in New York, Boston, and other East Coast cities. He has also worked and exhibited as a cabinet maker, a stained-glass artisan, and a potter. However, his primary career focus has been as a script writer and director of film and video. His work has been recognized by over fifty national and international awards including honors from the New York International and Chicago International Film Festivals and inclusion in the Library of Congress CINE Collection. Upon retiring, Dan began to channel her creative energies into sculpture. Over the past few years, her work has appeared in over 30 shows and was featured in the book “Contemporary Sculptors.” After many years as a scriptwriter and director, he began channeling his creative energies into his love of sculpture. In doing so, He drew from his own subconscious and his interest in the worlds of archetypes, myths, and rituals to create both abstract and figurative pieces. His figurative sculptures are not based on models, photographs, or actual persons. Instead, like his abstract work, they arise from memory, imagination, his inner world, and a spontaneous interaction with a variety of materials.
His primary materials are terra cotta and cement, although he frequently employs wood and various metals as well. The forms created from these materials are typically covered with a rich textual surface that is often aged or distressed to convey an emotion and a connection that transcend time and culture to bring artist and viewer into a shared inner space. His work has been described as elegant, yet also earthy and powerful. It is imbued with a mythic, numinous, and archetypal awareness that comes directly from his process of creation. His psychological and emotional state while his working are also strongly reflected in the sculptures. Some express a calm, almost beatific sensibility. Others display extreme disturbance and anguish.
Generally, it is only upon completion of an individual sculpture, or often a series of sculptures, that he is able to tease out the meaning and significance for his personally. However, regardless of the emotional impact, he seeks a connection with the viewer. Whether figurative or abstract, his ultimate goal is to have the viewer feel a sense of familiarity with the work…a sense of knowing, of understanding. He believes this feeling of déjà vu arises from both a collective unconscious and a mystical center we all share.
