Janet Echelman
Janet Echelman
Janet Echelmanis an American sculptor and artist. She builds living, breathing sculpture environments that respond to the forces of nature — wind, water and light — and become inviting focal points for civic life. Exploring the potential of unlikely materials, from fishing net to atomized water particles, Echelman combines ancient craft with cutting-edge technology to create her permanent sculpture at the scale of buildings. Experiential in nature, the result is sculpture that shifts from being an object you look at,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSculptor
Date of Birth19 February 1966
CountryUnited States of America
Once I began to hear and pay attention to my fledgling ideas, the biggest hurdle was to learn how to respect them. That was hard, because the real way to respect an idea is to invest the attention and work needed to develop it.
I never studied sculpture, engineering or architecture. In fact, after college I applied to seven art schools and was rejected by all seven.
I believe that public space should be intentional: it should be obvious that you belong,
I recognize that it is through the engagement with my craft - by recognizing an idea and drawing it out, building physical models, collaborating with experts, constructing the sculptures at urban scale, and maintaining them through years of weather and interaction with the public - that a new art for cities has become real.
It's good for art to make us think, to give us a shared experience that creates a dialogue, makes us talk to each other, including strangers.
The most powerful part of the art is experiential, yet it's the hardest to describe because it's nonverbal.
As a child, I always enjoyed building forts by stringing up bed sheets and clothes. I continue to be inspired by makeshift structures, including my own kids' forts and temporary architecture of all sorts.