AC Portsmouth Art Gallery

Pearl Necklace by Charles Strain

In high school I discovered that I wanted to work with my hands.  I had taken a Vo-Tech class and found that I loved to make things.  To get an idea and form it with my hands.  After much experimenting with different art forms, I finally found my passion. I studied at Culver Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, and also at Studio International in Italy. It was in Italy that I decided upon my medium and pursued my dream of becoming a sculptor.  I determined that bronze was the medium for me. If you know me, you would know that my hands are large, sometimes clumsy and lumbering. I am that guy that always knocks his drink over while eating dinner; however, with clay work, my hands are agile and quick, feeling the forms in my mind.  With clay, however, you still have to be careful – the pieces will break easy if bumped or dropped. I wanted to make pieces that would last, that could be passed down from generation to generation. Bronze is durable, and withstands time.  The process of lost wax casting of bronze excites me, fascinates me, and exhausts me. The process is long and arduous, but at the end of the process the beauty I see in my thoughts becomes reality.  I draw my imagery from the world of nature and life experience. The fusion of man and nature is a predominant theme in my sculpture.   The aesthetic lines of the human figure and the celebration of human emotion are vehicles I use as subject matter in my composition.  Happiness, sadness, a moment in time, a familiar experience, a celebration; these are some of the experiences I hope to impart through my work.  I want people to feel these emotions:  happiness, love, sadness, excitement, beauty and peace. If the sculpture evokes feelings, I have done my job. Pearl Necklace is a figure study sketch in line gesture. With an emphasis on how light travels, penetrates, and reflects the human spirit.