YSP

Ursula von Rydingsvard was born in 1924 in Deensen, Germany. She attended the University of Miami – Coral Gables in 1965 where she received a BA and an MA and an MFA in 1975 from Columbia University. She then attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore in 1991 where she received an honorary doctorate. She spent the majority of her childhood in post-war refugee camps and Nazi slave-labour, which she reflects upon within her work. The aim of her sculptures is to show the trace of the human hand and for them to resemble wooden bowls, tools and walls that reflect on her past, pre-industrial Poland before WW1. Her work almost reflects puzzles with the staggered forms and surfaces. Rydingsvard has achieved many awards during her lifetime, including a Joan Mitchell Award in 1997 and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1979 and in 1986.

Rydingsvard uses cedar wood beams that have been commercially cut in 4x4 pieces, which had been central to her work since 1975. Sometimes when she’s creating her sculptures, she uses cedar molds. For a period of 20 years, she cut all of the wood herself but now has a team of four cutters; two men and two women. They use circular saw, chisels and personally developed and adapted tools to suit their needs. To begin with, Rydingsvard marks the wood with pencil so can execute her designs. As quoted by the artist herself, “my cutters are very experienced and know exactly what I want, we work and eat together and we are like a family” “I can only hope that the cedar feels that all the abuse we inflict on it is worth what it becomes in the end”. She applies graphite power with a soft bristled brush and sometimes chalk or plaster to the wood to give it subtle age.