Art is, my Dance, with the Universe. SculptureThe studio is silent. It has white walls, some widows and sunlight. I work intuitively, letting the forms manifest themselves from wet clay. Strange winged-beings are born in combinations of angel, human, and animal. They arrive like visual poems. While being rooted in human archetypes and mythologies, they have no specific stories. I have always envisioned this pantheon of bronze beings as benevolent messengers; as travelers from nomadic tribes; and wanderers who are arriving simultaneously from both ancient and future places. Existing in liminal spaces, they are shapeshifters, shamans and Bodhisattvas, poised momentarily to hover in our presence. MaterialBronze is highly permanent. It is a fusion of metals made molten and forged by fire. Bronze is very earth-bound. So, my sculptures stand like stones in a forest stream, or unwaveringly, under arcs of sky at the edge of a meadow. They stand in stillness, breathing like an animal,… and then, opening unsure wings, they begin to rise, touching only toes to earth, as they seek flight. Background – living by waterFor over forty years Turner has maintained her commitment to studio practice and to her aesthetic voice in sculpture. Born in the finger lakes region of upstate New York in 1957, Turner has lived and worked near places of water all her life. Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Virginia, and Washington, DC., all provided a rich life journey. Now the coast of Maine is home. Avis is a retired art teacher and professor. She moved to Maine in 2014, where she began to restore a small house which was originally built in 1847. Her “cottage by the sea” now hosts vegetable & flower gardens, a small pollinator meadow, and her studio. She lives there with her German Shepherd, Elodie. Avis’s grown son, Robin, is a cellist and composer, living in southern Maine. As a child Avis found happiness when she was off in some wild place, or creating things; be it building forts from salvaged scrap construction wood, or fairy houses in the woods from moss & sticks. In high school she embroidered her jeans and make counted cross-stitch tapestries. She learned how to tool designs into leather, spin wool, carve wood, and throw clay pots. College was a mixed pursuit of interests - included studies in cultural anthropology, religions, and literature; as well as a foundation in classical studio art practice. This training consisted of - learning to see, by drawing from observation, art history, printmaking, etching, painting and figurative sculpture, from the live model. Today, Avis lives and works in her “cottage by the sea”. As an artist she continues to dance with the universe. ProcessThe sculptures begin with clay on wire armatures and then working with a foundry, they are transformed into bronze using the lost wax method of casting. MaterialBronze is highly permanent. It is a fusion of molten metals, forged in fire. Upon cooling, bronze is very earth-bound. So, I feel like my sculptures stand as stones do in a trickling streambed, or, unwaveringly, under vast arcs of sky at the edges of a meadow. Bronze holds stillness, at its core, and yet my images breathe some, as they open unsure wings to rise, touching only toes to earth, they seek to soar. Artistic InfluencesTurner’s sculptures are historically inspired by the refined contours and stylized forms found in Ancient Egyptian and Archaic Greek Sculpture. Modern (20c) Italian figurative sculptors such as Giacomo Manzu and Aristide Maillol carried the connecting thread. And sculpturally, Avis was informed by the non-figurative, yet equally dynamic, worlds of Louise Nevelson, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, and Lee Bontecou, to name just a few.