Carvings

For the past two decades, Steve Jensen has developed a body of sculptural work derived from his experiences and the landscapes he encounters. The experiences encompass both his heritage and a broader contemporary circumstance. The landscape is our seas, waterways, forests and mountains. The abundant beauty of the world’s available, natural resources and the precariousness of the relationship that we maintain with them, inspire Jensen. It is this relationship that powers his Carvings.

This artwork begins as homage to its source media. All of the wood used in Carvings is naturally felled. No living tree has or will be cut for the sake of this work. Jensen creates poles, from 8 to 20 feet in height, from trees. His floats are created from stumps and wall mounted relief created from hand-milled wood. The artist comes from a long tradition of Norwegian fisherman and boat builders. The chisels used by Jensen have been passed from his grandfather to his father to him. Whether completed in the original media or cast in bronze the craftsmanship of Jensen’s work speaks to the universality and the timelessness of carving.

Created on the verge of the 21^st Century, this work uses the primitive tradition of carving to abstractly explore a synthesis of contemporary circumstances. It explores the relationships we maintain with each other and our world. The emerging globalism of art is inherent to Carvings. Images from Jensen’s heritage have been expanded over the past five years by his travels through many countries, including Egypt, Africa, Tahiti, India, China and Thailand. Jensen has found the universal dialogue of carving throughout each of the cultures he has encountered. It serves as a vehicle for imagery that is inspired by our varying experience, as well as the natural resources from which we all benefit.

Carvings has a significant presence in public artwork, as well as corporate and private collections throughout the United States and abroad. This work pays homage to and attempts to maintain a reverence for our natural resources and the world in which we all live. - Robert Roy Mapes, October 1998

Awards

• King County Special Projects Grant, King County Arts Commission, 1998
• Individual Artist Grant, Allied Arts Foundation, 1998
• Seattle Artist, Seattle Arts Commission, 1997
• Artist Trust, Gap Indivdual Artist Grant, 1997
• Community Leadership Award, Cornish College for the Arts, 1997
• Ned Behnke Leadership Award, Northwest A.I.D.S. Foundation, 1995

Reviews and Publications

• "Dramatic Carvings" Robin Updike, The Seattle Times, July 12 1996
• "Seattle Artist Brings Work To Museum" Patrick Williams, USU Information, October 1994
• "Steve Jensen At Mercer Hood" David S. Paulson, SGN, July 1994
• "Steve Jensen: Artist Making Waves" Andrew Woodley, Our World, April 1994
• "Fluid Forms" Chris Loughner, Alaska Airlines Magazine, July 1994
• "An Ocean Of Steel, A Forest Of The Mind" David S. Paulson, SGN, May 22, 1994
• "Robust Sculptures" Robin Updike, The Seattle Times, May 12 1994

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