designed by nature, imagined by artist steve lloyd
The Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic chapel beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in the Czech Republic. Around 1870, the Czech carpenter and woodcarver FrantiĊĦek Rint created elaborate sculptures from the human bones that had been unearthed during the chapel's construction.
Using the natural shapes of skulls, femurs, ribs, and every other bone from the human body, the sculptures re-imagine (and reposition!) the bones to form fantastic shapes. Rint's ability to look at a natural shape and use it in a composition that becomes something completely different, even a chandelier.
Inside the Duomo in Orvieto, a scenic medieval Umbrian hill town, I was inspired by these beautifully off-center columns. Beachcombing in Alaska, I see many enormous driftwood trees that are similarly twisted and textured.
Someday I'd like to create a driftwood sculpture that pays homage to Cesare Nebbia, the 16th-Century artist who created the intricate mosiacs that adorn not only these columns, much much of the cathedral's interior.
Hiking in the Barolo region of northern Italy, I came across a brick column that had been part of some long-gone palazzo wall.
A climbing vine had attached itself to the bricks and established a sprouting canopy. The form of the plant mirrored the geometric shape of the column, creating a capitol of intertwined branches that tightly surrounded the ruined column.
Besides the natural patterns of driftwood that are formed by the sea, I draw inspiration from other natural and man-made forms when creating my Alaska driftwood sculptures. Here are a few of my favorites.
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Inspirations
Images I have drawn from to create my Driftwood Art
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