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Lourdes Cue moved to Minnesota from Mexico City in 1992 and returns to Mexico often to make and exhibit her art. She is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and received her initial stone sculpting training from a Japanese stone carver in Mexico. Her artwork is informed as much by her travels to Yugoslavia, Scotland, and Croatia, as it is by her Mexican roots. From her own perspective, the audiences for her work are equally diverse. |
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A resident of Saint Paul's west side and an artist who has shaped many neighborhood places, David trained as a painter (holding an MFA from the University of Oregon) and is largely self-taught as a stone sculptor. His work in garden and landscape design over the past 20 years led him to work in stone as the primary element within environmental art. David's work often tells the stories of the people who have built this city on the River. "I believe that art can improve our city and our universe and can be a bridge of peace and world understanding." He views the Symposium as a unique opportunity to expand his knowledge of materials and tools, as well as his own aesthetic vision. "I hope to become a better sculptor through the Symposium. I am excited to work on a daily basis side by side with other sculptors. As participants, our languages may not be the same, but our art will become the universal idiom trough which understanding develops." Anticipating the participation of an artist from Saint Paul's sister city of Changsha, China, David and the Changsha Committee wish to explore a possible collaboration on works that might be jointly sited at a proposed Chinese Garden. He values the opportunity to engage the public in his work: "I enjoy sharing my passion for making art and for stone carving. It is important to inspire others to understand, appreciate and create, especially young people who will be engaged in the program through the school partnerships." |
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A member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe based in Bemidji, Minnesota, sculptor Duane Goodwin views the Symposium as an opportunity to generate an influential and enriching visual statement of the Native American legacy. He studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, where he was mentored by the internationally known Apache stone carver Allen Houser, whose work in the new National Museum of the American Indian. He also studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, which brought a contemporary perspective to his work. "As I carve, I seek to glean not only the hidden spirit of the stone itself, but also the essence and wisdom of Native America. I chisel spirits from stone, evoking animals, birds and faces that emerge to speak of the harmony and dependence we share." He is on the faculty of the Leech Lake Tribal College and has worked extensively in communities throughout rural Northern Minnesota to cultivate appreciation for art. "The symposium will significantly impact many areas of my life and provide a great opportunity to work with artists from around the world, to share our unique perspectives, talents and values - an experience that I am eager to share with my community. Placed along streets, bridges and city parks, the [symposium] sculptures will communicate to the observer, the same need for reverence and respect that our Elders wisely granted to us." |
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A native of Guatemala, Morales "became a Midwesterner in secondary school" and has lived and worked in St. Paul for the past decade. He earned his Biology degree at Ripon College, studied in France and Germany, and earned a master's degree in Hispanic Literature and Linguistics at the University of Minnesota. He is fluent in English, Spanish, French and German and has traveled extensively throughout the world. A sculptor who works primarily in stone, he learned his craft as a sculptor's assistant before opening his own studio. He views the Symposium as an opportunity to create a sculpture of substantial dimensions for Saint Paul and to expand his knowledge of stone carving. "I relish finding out what other stone sculptors are doing and thinking. I want to know: what motivates and inspires them? how do they process their designs? how do they decide when to let go and when to reign in? I would like to expand my lexicon of stone, stone carving techniques and stone working tools." Morales is also interested in learning what an international symposium is like because he would like to host a Symposium in his native Guatemala. "Guatemala has a legacy of great monumental stone sculpture from the pre-Columbian era, yet since then and into modern times little monumental sculpture is undertaken in stone." He envisions a Guatemalan Stone Symposium as an opportunity to possibly revive a long lost tradition of monumental stone sculptures in the region. "Mesoamerican sculpture, which incorporates hieroglyphic inscriptions with relief figurative and ornamental details, inspires much of my work." A participant in Public Art Saint Paul's 2002 Stone Symposium in Western Sculpture Park and the leader of Salvation Army art education programs in Western Park, Morales is "excited to share my enthusiasm for stone sculpture with the general public. I feel that I am contributing something to popular discourse, to our sense of being in the particular contexts we inhabit." |
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"I have been looking for an opportunity like this for some time now," says Ely resident Sinesio. "I have been involved in international snow sculpting symposiums and found them to be an inspiration for my work year-round. I have always come away with information, ideas, new directions...and life long friends." A resident of Ely, Minnesota since 1979, Sinesio is a self-taught carver who has been a full time artist since 1993. His background in environmental studies, mineral exploration, and horse logging have contributed to his focus on and nuanced ability to capture the essence of animals in motion carved in soapstone, serpentine, Ely Greenstone and other local stone, as well as in wood. His work has been commissioned by the Minnesota Percent for Art program and he served as a consultant to the Science Museum of Minnesota for a storyline on animal personalities and interactions at the International Wolf Center. "My inspirations come from the wild environment I live in. Since 1994, I have met with a group of local stone carvers to prospect for and carve in a variety of stone...and then compare notes." Sinesio has served as the volunteer director of the Voyageur Winter Festival Snow Sculpture Symposium since 1993 and relishes the opportunity for community interaction. "The activity of working in stone attracts both young and old to see what will happen. I look forward to working with youth and the general public while doing what I love to do." |
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From his studio in the Lowertown Artist District of Saint Paul, Wyrick has created temporary works in stone for Franconia Sculpture Park, The Soap Factory, and museum installations throughout the Midwest. He studied at the University of Wisconsin in River Falls and honed his stone carving skills as a sculptor's assistant working on projects by artists Stanton Sears and Andrea Mykelbust for public places throughout the United States. In 2004, he carved two stone benches for a park in the city of York, Alabama. Wyrick views the Symposium as a key experience in his emergence as a public artist and stone sculptor in his own right. "The symposium will offer me the opportunity to build upon my experience as a sculptor's assistant for major projects and upon the recent bench project to achieve a large scale public work of my own design." Wyrick is interested in the camaraderie between artists as they work in close proximity with one another and how this affects the creative energy of the working process. He is eager to share his work with the public: "When citizens are part of and witness to the creative process, they realize a sense of ownership that in the long term gives the work lasting strength." |
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