Scott Reuman Fine Furniture and Sculpture
Artist's Statement & bioWe are all artists. The artist is there, awaiting release.
Two things — the hidden artist in all of us and a reverence for all things — guide me as woodworker, sculptor, painter, writer and even in previous lives (biomedical engineer and physicist). The materials I work with (wood, metal, stone and some synthetics) react to me just as I react to them, a reciprocity of reverence. If I see the beauty in a piece of wood, that beauty resonates, growing more magnificent. Wood may not “talk” back but it lets me know how to use it, how to show its best characteristics. These moments of communication are the photosynthesis of my art: the foundation energy that sustains me. Technique, that element somewhat akin to wisdom, comes only when the artist's soul is firmly attached to pen, brush, knife or chisel. Like great improvisational jazz, each brush or chisel stroke is another “note” waiting to be realized. This circle from artist to reverence to materials to tools and back to artist, is an infinite loop. Its driving energy may be the artist, or Mother Nature may be that engine since all elements of tools/artist/materials are hers. Ulysses said, “I am a part of all that I have known.” Quantum physics says the same. Does the artist create the art, or vice versa? When I work with wood, fabricating sculpture or furniture, I am just a tool of Nature holding a tool of steel, feeling my way into my heart and that of a tree.
Certain elements reappear in my work: flowing forms, curves, the contrast of mixed materials (stone and wood, wood and metal, etc.), river imagery and water. 40 years as kayaker and backpacker have certainly added their influence. Wild things, diversity, human insignificance in the universe, all serve as inspiration.
Some characteristic of the materials I work with often sparks an idea: weaving grain of wood, translucency of marble, topographic surfaces of bent metal, spectral colors of paints. The wood for a sideboard made of rare African muninga showed variations in tone that suggested changes in thickness, almost like shadow lines. The design evolved to emphasize those tonal changes. By cutting curves on the surface of otherwise straight pieces of wood, the
structure became both straight and curved, like the wood, and like the tree.
Another project evolved from familiarity with substance. I used to build kayaks from fiberglass. Resins used in fiberglass are translucent like the water on which those boats ride. In a spruce coffee table, tall lamp and door I built flowing inlay of glowing, blue resin — water floating in wood, a reversal of expectations.
My work, then, is born in the unconscious, heated in the forge of mind, fueled by a life of observation, and tempered by the heart.
RESUME
EDUCATION
Colorado Institute of Art, Denver, CO 1977
Graduate Bio-Engineering studies; Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 1973-74, full scholarship.
Fine Arts and Engineering degrees; Brown University, Providence, RI 1972.
Course work at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI 1971-72.
EXPERIENCE
Conundrum Designs, Inc., Boulder, CO, President and owner, fine art and design, established 1979 to present
Colorado Academy, Englewood, CO, Teacher, grades 6-12, sculpture, art,
photography, physics, math, geology, meteorology, 1975-78
Brown University Physics Dept., Providence, RI, Research Associate,
microelectronics and semiconductor research, 1972-74
Clevepak, Inc., Providence, RI, Consulting Engineer (medical), 1973-74
MEMBERSHIPS & HONORARIA
Who's Who in the West, 1977, 1996
Art consultant to Geological Society of America's Rock Parks, 1996-97
PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Commissioned artist, State of Colorado Percent-for-Art program, 1999, Department of Public Health and Environment, sculpture
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 8, wetlands artist, 1993
Women of the Rockies, official artist 1993
Artist with Visuals Unlimited, 1989-96
Memphis In May Triathalon, official artist, 1987-89
Artist with The Image Bank, 1987-96
Absolut Vodka race series, official artist 1990-1995
Grand Marnier Ski Races, official artist 1990-95
Vail World Cup, official artist, 1989
Michelin Golf, official artist, 1988
John Denver Celebrity Ski Classic, official artist, 1988
Copper Mountain Resort/American Express series events, official artist 1984
Red Zinger Mini-Classic Bicycle Races, official artist 1981-92
Foothills Art Center, Golden, CO, 1978, 1st Place
REPRESENTATION BY:
Toklat Gallery, Basalt, CO, 970-927-1437, www.toklatgallery.com
Doug West Gallery, Arroyo Seco, NM, 888-510-0505, www.dougwestart.com
Mountain Living Studio, Manitou Springs, CO, 719-685-0225
Website: http://www.ConundrumDesigns.com
