Bob Rizzo
The Warrior | Gift of the Village Women | The Spirits | Ducksonge | Guide to the Recent Past | Ziva Nguva (Remember Time) | Memories | A New Spirit | Well Hung | Homer | The Collector | The Messenger | The Gatherer | The Dreamer
|
The Spirits
1997-2004 (mixed media) 3 figures each approx. 64” x 18” x 10”
Toured as part of Trashformations East exhibit;
Ohio Craft Museum, Feb........ 4-April 1, 2007 http://www.ohiocraft.org/
Lancaster Museum of Art, September 16-October 29, 2006 http://www.lmapa.org
Copia Museum Napa Valley, January 20 – May 8, 2006, http://www.copia.org
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA January 15 - May 1, 2005 http://www.fullercraftmuseum.org/
Trashformations East features work by artists who use found objects or recycled materials in unique ways.
Works include anything from soda cans to cardboard, trash bags to toilet paper, and all kinds of salvaged glass, metal and wood.
The exhibition is curated by Lloyd Herman, founding director of the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, and one of the foremost authorities on
America's contemporary craft movement. Trashformations is dedicated to Jennifer L. Atkinson, former director of Fuller Craft Museum.
“The Spirits” were made over a period of seven years. Each figure of the three figures consist of a collection
of items I have found on the street, in the woods, in junk shops (before they became antique shops) and/or are
gifts from friends or casual acquaintances that have seen the work and feel compelled to donate something.
Each item, each bead, each bone, each coin, each feather, tells a story; they recall walks, adventures, gifts given, things simply found
cast away by others. hey have become records, story never really finished, always in need of another chapter, always in need of just one more...
Why the nails, quills in the heads? While making "The Spirits" I began to use them as a way to drive away bad energy that was entering my life…
they became protectors… the nails in the heads were an attempt to drive out evil thoughts… not sure it worked but my headaches went away…
Mixed media; including feathers, wood, seed beads, wood beads, silver beads, ceramic beads, coins, leather scraps, handmade nails,
antique hat forms, wooden boxes, glass bottles, African & American porcupine quills, buffalo fur, horns & teeth, animal bones, wax, cast iron, tin,
bead, silver, clay, old jewelry, harness parts, duck decoy heads, tin & cast medal badges, carved wood, old tools, antique sleigh bells, cotton, paint,
medicine bags, chair legs, scrap metal, glass bottles, brass bells, spice drying racks, sea shells, stones, manikin parts, antique bank figure,
antique lock, brass horn, carved wood birds ….
 Front
|
 Rear
|
 Front
  Rear
 |
Spirit of All Things Wild
1997-2004 - (66" x 19" x 12")
Mixed media; including feathers, wood, seed beads, wood beads, silver beads, ceramic beads, coins, leather, handmade nails, antique hat form, street sign, wooden boxes, glass bottles, porcupine quills, bones, wax, cast iron, tin, parking meter dial, brass horn, lead, silver, clay, carved wood, dried Hawaiian flowers, manikins hand, leather glove, old tools, antlers, antique sleigh bells, cotton, paint, etc.
  |
Spirit of the Past
1997-2004 - (66" x 19" x 12")
Mixed media; including feathers, wood, seed beads, wood beads, silver beads, ceramic beads, coins, leather bags, handmade nails, antique hat form, street sign, wooden boxes, glass bottles, porcupine quills, bones, wax, cast iron, tin, lead, silver, clay, carved wood, antique sleigh bells, brass bell, antique bank figure, cotton, paint, small wood ladder, etc.
 |
     |
Spirit of the Laborer (Part of "The Spirits" Group)
Reworked-new title- "A New Spirit", 2008
1999-2004 - (66"x19"x 12")
Mixed media; including feathers, wood, seed beads, wood beads, silver beads, ceramic beads, coins, leather bags, handmade nails, antique hat form, street sign, wooden boxes, glass bottles, porcupine quills, bones, wax, cast iron, tin, lead, silver, clay, carved wood, antique sleigh bells, brass bell, antique bank figure, cotton, paint, small wood ladder, etc.
 |
  |
 |
 |
 |
 |