derek w russell

My work ranges from multi-media sculptures that probe the thin layer between childhood and adulthood, utility and uselessness, and temporality and permanence, to bold photography in color or black and white, and the design and fabrication of furniture and decorative objects.

I explore different themes through my subject matter and by embracing fabrication and traditional processes as an integral part of making. The lives of objects go through many steps. For me, the process of production is significant since the mediums that I work with - bronze, iron, wood, and glass - are both shaped by me and inspire my practice. Each of these mediums also involve historic production processes – particularly in the blowing of glass and the pouring of iron and other molten metals. Likewise, the history of these processes – iron pouring and glass blowing, which involve communities of makers – become embedded in the works I produce, as does the knowledge of generations of makers before me.