Steven Thurston

For the Phenomena(l) catalogue, Steven Thurston writes, "For the past few years, I have used dimensional imaging and new technologies to find balance in form between traditional craft and industrial practice. I find inspiration in the images from the 1758-60 Johann Georg Hertel edition of Iconologia, Cesare Ripas seminal collection of allegories and personifications. The engravings suggest visual depictions of virtues and vices, characters and emotions. My work is heavily influenced by earlier investigations in the theoretical teachings of the French Enlightenment, and I have interest in reinterpreting such themes as vigilance, ambition, greed and patriotism. I am intrigued by how primary shapes and images can affect us physically and emotionally."

Steven Thurston earned his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI and BFA from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. He has shown at Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore; University of Richmond Museums, Richmond; Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY; R & E Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art, Lewis and Clark College, Portland; and The Sculpture Center, Cleveland, among others.