Featured Maker: James Florschutz

February 7, 2012

We’re proud to invite James Florschutz into ADX on a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. He has been working with wood for over three decades and has won numerous awards. James will be taking materials harvested from our scrap pile and making beautiful art with it. Come see what he and a whole slew of creative makers are working on — stop by and take a tour, seven days a week!

NAME: James Florschutz

OCCUPATION: Sculptor

CONTACT: http://www.jamesflorschutz.com/

What has drawn you to sculpture as an art form?

In college I would walk past the Art Department on my way to the Geology Department. They were both
on the outer edges of the University of Miami campus in old wooden buildings. I would take a shortcut
past the welding sheds and I would look over at what was happening. Then I started stopping and hang
on the fence just watching. I remember the professor came over and said “I see you over here three
or four days a week, come on in” He gave me my first welding lesson. The rest is history. I changed my
major from geology to art and took every sculpture class offered.

When did you first start experimenting with the art form?

My sculpture has always been rooted in the environment and nature and I put myself through school
in part by learning carpentry. It was much later that I realized that I was actually doing sculpture as a
child when I built forts, snowmen, tree houses, birdhouses, really everything. It was this very creative
childhood when it started.

I’ve noticed you work a lot with wood – Is that on purpose or because it’s
a readily-available source of scrap?

Both. I love wood in all its various forms. I think it has got to be the most thrown away resource on the
planet. I work mostly in wood but I often combine it with other materials such as stone, metal or plastic.
Every material offers a different resistance and it has its own language and tells it own story. So I am
attracted to all materials but wood is the material that resonates in me.

What are the projects you get most excited about?

For me the most exciting projects are ones that push me in new directions such as working with new
materials or with other artists and professionals. Projects in the public realm where there is a site-
specificity required can be very exhilarating. Contrary to that, having no outcome in mind but working
from the gut, where there might be many starts which I have to edit and begin again. It is very tense and
charged time until it begins to flow.

Why did you come to Portland?

It was threefold; family, the art scene and to lessen our carbon footprint. My wife, also a sculptor and I
made Vermont our home base for over forty years and we were ready for a change. We absolutely love
Portland.

What is your fantasy project?

It would have to be one with a very large budget in which I would get to collaborate with my wife and
other artists probably in Spain, maybe the Netherlands.