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Sam Ekwurtzel, the 2013-14 Alice C. Cole '42 Fellow, at the time of this fellowship lived and worked in New London, CT. His solo exhibition On the beach was presented by Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT. Other recent exhibitions included Its when its gone that you really notice it, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY; Kinds of light, Second Guest Projects, New York, NY; The Passenger Position, Reference Gallery, Richmond, VA; Homo Duplex, Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA; and A failed entertainment, Neiman Gallery, New York, NY.
Ekwurtzel has supported himself by working on various Alaskan commercial fishing vessels as well as teaching sculpture at colleges and universities throughout New England. He was the 2011 Fountainhead Fellow in the department of sculpture at Virginia Commonwealth University. He studied at the Hartford Art School, Columbia University, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and he was awarded a grant from the New York Community Trust.
Ekwurtzel's work considers boundaries of space and modes of orientation and communication within it. His projects have explored how these ideas manifest in spaces as varied as mole tunnels, the ocean, and the suburban landscape.
Dunnage
Jewett Art Gallery
Nov. 3 - 21, 2014
How did the Cole Fellowship impact your work?
"The Cole Fellowship was awarded at a time when I was balancing numerous part-time jobs and beginning to develop larger sculpture projects in New York and abroad. During the fellowship period I was able to shift my focus from paying rent, commuting to work, etc., to developing a new body of work. Using Cole Fellowship funding, I moved to New York and secured housing and a studio. I also pursued coursework in timber processing and engineering in Massachusetts and Kyoto, Japan, leading to the design and construction of a 2,000 sq. ft. studio workspace in Connecticut. The fellowship period facilitated the lengthy process of harvesting and processing timbers, acquiring permits, and finishing the majority of the construction. This is a space that will serve my art practice for decades to come, functioning as a studio, storage, and part-time living space.
The fellowship period supported a number of projects including solo exhibitions at Real Art Works, Hartford; Simone Subal Gallery, New York; Art Basel Miami Beach; a public project at the Bass Museum, Miami, FL; and group exhibitions at Liste, Basel, CH; and 247365, New York, NY. I had the opportunity to work with Wellesley students while preparing for my exhibition at Wellesley's Jewett Art Gallery. The students were generous with their time and feedback and spent long hours helping me assemble a sculpture made of grocery divider bars."
-Sam Ekwurtzel, October 2015
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