Todd Hoyer
All images courtesy of the artist
My work has been based on change. Each piece and idea is an integral step on the path of growth. From my production items where I learned the use of tools and techniques, to my vessels where I explored the material, each step had been towards greater understanding of the material and myself.
My work has been a reflection of the changes in my life. Consciously and subconsciously, ideas and images have paralleled and expressed major shifts in my life. I have developed a personal language, through imagery to communicate. The sphere, which is the heart and soul of my work, is the foundation of most of the Series I work with. Simple surface treatments like blackened interior surfaces represent the void within. Weathered exteriors represent aging. The combinations of these and other images and forms, create a record of growth and change.
Many pieces were turned and then weathered outdoors for up to two years to create the cracking and silver patina on the surfaces. Some were then re-turned and wrapped with rusted wire, combining metal which creates tension with the wood surface while defining a form of its own. All of my pieces are created from a single piece of wood, with no cutting and reassembling. Structural and sculptural integrity are important in my work.
My creative process is reliant on the need not to be dazzled and stalled by technique and the beauty of the material. For me, success is to move forward, balancing the manipulation of form and expression with the organic nature of wood.
Works
Museum Collections
Arizona State University Museum of Art, Tempe, AZ
Arkansas Art Center Little Rock, AR
Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX
Ashville Art Museum Ashville, NC
Carnegie Museum of Art Pittsburg, PA
Chrysler Museum of Art Norfolk, VA
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
Detroit Institute of Arts Detroit, MI
Fine Arts Museum of the South, Mobile, AL
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
Gallery of Art and Design : North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC
Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
Long Beach Museum of Art Long Beach, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles, CA
Minneapolis Institute of Art Minneapolis, MN
Mint Museum of Crafts and Design Charlotte, NC
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI
Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution Wash., DC
University of Michigan Museum of Art, MI
Victoria & Albert Museum London, England
WoodTurning Center Philadelphia, PA
Yale University Art Gallery Newhaven, CT