November 12, 2022 from, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
I invite you to see my new body of work which I know you will enjoy.
In 2022, I sculpted 9 pieces from white marble that I genuinely love.
My studio at the Grounds for Sculpture will be open during the Artists in Action Open Studios event.
I will also have on display some of my bronze, wood, iron and concrete sculptures and some mixed media paintings.
I hope to see you then.
Autin
(Photo: Autin Wright, “Seed,” 2022. Marble, 9.5 x 4.5 x 4.5 inches)
https://autinwright.com/2022/11/11/open-studio-november-12/
An interview with Sculptor Autin Wright (by Pamela Goldman)
https://autinwright.com/2022/01/19/sculpture-and-words-of-autin-wright-scultura-e-parole-di-autin-wright/
by Philippa Chaplin, Travel Editor, Philadelphia Inquirer
One from the archives. Click here to read it (.pdf).
https://autinwright.com/2021/10/12/new-jerseys-land-of-giants/
AUGUST 20 2021 from 6 — 7:30 PM
ONSITE, OUTDOORS
PRICE Free for members, $10 non members
ONSITE PROGRAM – Discover the local art community of Hamilton and Trenton, New Jersey at Grounds For Sculpture with an in depth look into their creative practice, technique and histories. This gathering will feature a new artist each month sharing their perspective in conversation with the public. This month, meet with artist Autin Wright and explore identity and expectation in art.
Curated and moderated by Áine Mickey.
Autin Dean Wright was born and raised on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. A graduate of the Edna Manley School of Visual Art in Kingston, he was honored with a Certificate of Merit as well as a gold, a silver, and two bronze medals at Jamaica’s Annual Festival of Fine Arts Exhibition. His work was included in the National Fine Arts Exhibition in Jamaica and he was the recipient of the Simon Bolivar Sculpture Competition Award hosted by the Venuzeula Embassy in Jamaica.
Wright moved to the United States in 1987. After graduating from the Connecticut Institute of Art in Greenwich, he became the Technical Supervisor for Paint and Patina at the Johnson Atelier Institute of Sculpture in Mercerville, NJ. Autin has 6 sculptures installed at the Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ and Camille is at Penn Medicine’s Princeton Health Care System in Plainsboro, NJ. Wright currently resides in Trenton, NJ.
https://autinwright.com/2021/09/26/artists-in-action-autin-wright/
Cliff Ward and Autin Wright are amazing sculptors and painters that I had the pleasure of meeting while I was working at Sculpture Magazine. With now 20 years of friendship, they take us behind their life and how they got into the their field. Sit back and enjoy this one Got InSpiration Fam. To learn more about Cliff you may visit his website at cliffward.net and autinwright.com. You may also discover their work at Grounds For Sculpture. www.groundsforsculpture.org
Listen online: https://gotinspiration.libsyn.com/episode-14-cliff-ward-autin-wright-changing-lives-through-visual-art
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-14-cliff-ward-autin-wright-changing-lives-through/id1526232139?i=1000506211156
No matter how big or how small, everyone makes an impact in their own unique way. And that’s what I’m here for, to share and explore the many different forms of inspiration in our world today through having conversations with people from all walks of life whether you are an entrepreneur, teacher, in corporate america, or volunteer, your story needs to be heard. You never know what a difference you can make in someone’s life by telling your story. I am your host Kristine Smith and I would like to welcome you to “Got Inspiration”.
https://autinwright.com/2021/01/25/got-inspiration/
By Thessaly La Force
Published Sept. 5, 2020. Updated Sept. 8, 2020
Many museums and galleries across the country have cautiously begun to reopen in recent weeks, offering a chance for the culture-starved to enjoy a moment of reprieve with their favorite works of art. Still, the lines can be long, and timed ticketing limits a more impulsive visit.
These seven sculpture gardens or outdoor art spaces — ranging from world-class art collections to more hidden and eccentric destinations — are especially appealing beginning this month, when the weather is ideal for strolling outside and the fall programming and curatorial programs (some of them delayed from closings this summer) begin in earnest.
Hamilton, N.J.
This 42-acre park and museum was founded in 1992 by the American artist Seward Johnson, with the hope of promoting a better understanding of contemporary sculpture. Close to 300 works by artists such as Beverly Pepper, Kiki Smith, Anthony Caro, Magdalena Abakanowicz and Autin Wright populate the grounds, where natural woodlands, ponds and bamboo groves are set alongside paved terraces, pergolas and courtyards where the occasional peacock may make an appearance. Included, of course, are several of Johnson’s own pop-art-inflected, larger-than-life figures. Families with children under 12 can purchase an ArtBox — a beginner’s sculpture kit — in advance of their visit. Don’t miss the recently installed show “Rebirth,” composed of six works made from steel elevator cables by the Taiwanese sculptor Kang Muxiang.
https://autinwright.com/2020/09/08/7-sculpture-gardens-that-merge-art-with-the-landscape/
By RAQUEL Y. LIGGON-HORN – November 21, 2019 at 9:52 AM
[PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY, NOVEMBER 19] On Saturday, November 2, 2019, the Central Jersey Alumnae Chapter (CJA) of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. held an Arts Festival for Youth at Franklin Middle School located in Somerset, New Jersey. Hosted by the chapter’s Arts & Letters Committee, the festival provided a unique opportunity for 25 artistic students to be inspired by six local visual and performing artists. The artists included: Cliff Ward and Autin Wright, resident sculptors at Grounds for Sculpture (Hamilton, NJ) who brought examples of their work for students to experience and reviewed sketch drawings from aspiring illustrators/architects; actor JD Williams, actor/producer/host Steve Strickland, and recording artist April Harris-Holmes who candidly shared their personal stories and journeys to success in the entertainment business; and dance educator Susan Pope Gaddy who shared how dance transformed her from a shy little girl to a confident dance expressionist, a sentiment that was shared by a promising student.
The open discussion session was moderated by CJA Member Kristine Smith and owner of Inspira Performing Arts & Cultural Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Smith contributed her own stories of a passion for dance and operating a dance studio. The students demonstrated their engagement by asking their own questions and sharing their own artistic journeys. The youth received invaluable practical strategies, suggestions, and motivation from the professional artists. These young attendees were encouraged and coached on promoting their work, building resiliency, and understanding divine purpose and that power of enjoying the passions they pursue. The participating parents and young artists enjoyed the opportunity to network with each other and exchange ideas on nurturing talent.
At the conclusion of the session, the guest artists were thanked by the Arts & Letters Committee and gifted a “Precious Moments” print commissioned by local artist Alonzo Adams, furthering noting CJA’s support of the arts and local artists.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded on January 13, 1913 by 22 collegiate women at Howard University to promote academic excellence and provide assistance to those in need. It is an organization of college educated women committed to the constructive development of its members and to public service with a primary focus on the Black community. The Central Jersey Alumnae Chapter was chartered in 1975 and serves Middlesex, Somerset, and Union counties. The current Chapter President is Karen Wade Culp. To learn more about Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority, Incorporated, please visit the National website at www.deltasigmatheta.org. To learn more about the Central Jersey Alumnae Chapter, please visit www.cjadeltas.org.
https://autinwright.com/2019/11/21/central-jersey-alumnae-chapter-of-delta-sigma-theta-sorority-inc-supports-young-as-piring-artists-at-its-arts-forum-for-youth/
By Dan Aubrey – March 13, 2019
Sculptor Autin Wright stands in the midst of his studio at Grounds For Sculpture. Surrounded by decades of works in a variety of materials — wood, Styrofoam, clay — he points to several sculptures on a nearby table and says “the ones I’m going to show at Princeton are bronze pieces.”
Wright is talking about an Arts Council of Princeton exhibition opening Saturday, March 23.
Titled “Riverside Silos/Shaping Spaces,” it pairs his sculpture with new works by Princeton-based photographer Ricardo Barros, who has a history of photographing the Grounds For Sculpture artists and their work.
Wright’s works, he says, related to Barros’ images of geometric industrial buildings. “He wants something to complement what he’s doing,” Wright says.
That includes work informed by geometry, light, shadow, and space — elements that also engaged Wright before his long relationship with the Seward Johnson Atelier.
That began in 1993 when the young artist arrived as an apprentice. Now, 26 years later, Wright is an established and award-winning artist with work at Grounds For Sculpture and Princeton Hospital. He is also the atelier’s technical supervisor for paint and patina.
Wright’s bronzes that have a finish that suggests wood “are the earliest pieces I cast at the Seward Johnson Atelier,” he says. “The concept was from the earlier pieces I did in Jamaica. I’m originally from Jamaica. I did a lot of wood carving in Jamaica. And I translated the original idea in wood into bronze. If you look at the original wood work there is some similarity.
“The thing about wood is that you are limited. In bronze you have freedom to manipulate the pull and squeeze even more. It gave more freedom. But it was bit more challenging.
“When I came here I used wood as my launching pad, as my original idea. And I brought a different twist with it.”
Wright was born in 1960 in Kingston, the home of approximately one-third of Jamaica’s population, roughly 2,900,000.
“My dad was an upholsterer. My mother was a dress maker,” he says. “In the house there were always scraps of materials, buttons, pins. At an early age I leaned to mend my pants and replace buttons and zippers.
“I worked with my dad sometimes in the summer. He had his own business. It was pretty similar to what my mom was doing; she did it for dress and he’d do it for furniture. He removed the old vinyl on a sofa or chair.
“I grew up not knowing any artists. The only one I knew was my mom — making stuff. But when I was in school I was the go-to guy for art. If someone needed a poster or something they would come to me.”
Wright says the artistry was just there. “As far as I remember I was drawing and painting. I got into sculpting when I went to art school and we had to do basic design. For the first time I was designing in 3-D. It was more technical and perhaps that’s why I gravitated towards (sculpture).”
Wright says the decision to go to art was serendipitous. “I didn’t want to go to art school. I was good at it, but you don’t know exactly what you’re good at it. You take it for granted. It’s not something you think about.”
Others did, however, including a high school teacher who suggested art school despite’s the young artist’s intent on studying science.
“The reason I studied art is that a friend gave me an application and said fill it out,” says Wright. “When I applied to school, I applied to both science and art schools. The art school accepted me. The science school rejected me.”
Then there was a twist. “The art school asked for a portfolio, I said, ‘What is that?’ They said when you come in you have to have a portfolio. If you don’t have that, they said come to the summer program.”
That summer Wright created a portfolio in several weeks, and his art career began.
Looking back, Wright ponders the idea of destiny, “Like you’re destined to do something. You always find yourself on the same path. I didn’t consider myself an artist, but I was in art.”
He says it was the same thing coming to the Johnson Atelier.
“I knew about the atelier,” he says, “across from the arts school we had a U.S. embassy and they had a library. There was Sculpture Magazine on the stands — from the International Sculpture Center (at Grounds For Sculpture) — and there was an ad for an apprenticeship program. I applied. I sent in all the information. I applied just to see. I just did it, but I put it on the back burner. After I graduated from art school I was teaching in high school.”
Meanwhile, he says, his mother and sisters immigrated to Connecticut to live with his aunt, and in 1987 she arranged for him to join them
“I had mixed feeling coming here,” he says.”I was happy. I was in the paper all the time in Jamaica. I was an up-and-coming artist. I was selling my work. I was getting a few awards. And I was teaching and having a great time with the kids.”
Then he had an idea: “I was going to go for years and make a few connections. And I’m still here.”
The path to the “here,” the Johnson Atelier, happened when he was taking various jobs and studying graphic arts.
“I was in the library in Sanford. I was hanging out and reading and browsing around and came to the magazine stand, and there it was again in the Sculpture Magazine, the application. I applied again. They said they accepted me and said, ‘Come on down.’”
While his early years at the atelier where economically tough, he was able to live on the small apprentice stipend, money from various building jobs, an award, an opportunity to fill a position in the paint and patina division, and then a few commissions, including several by atelier founder Seward Johnson.
Talking about his work at the atelier, Wright says, “I’m the middle guy between administration and workers I do the estimations between artist and vendors. “
That includes his work with Seward Johnson. To illustrate how the two artists interact, Wright mentions the popular Marilyn Monroe statue and says, “He comes and talks about colors. What color dress? If he’s not sure I’d have a whole color selection. He’d come and select the color. After we paint it may not be exactly what he wants,” and they begin again.
Other artists he has worked with include Joyce Scott, an American artist of African heritage who was the subject of a recent GFS exhibition; internationally known New Jersey raised artist Kiki Smith; Joel Shapiro, a New York-based sculptor using geometric forms; Tom Otterness, a prolific public art sculptor known for his abstracted and sometimes cartoonish human and animal figures; and Michele Oka Doner, an artist using various media and the creator of more than 40 public and private art installations.
Then there was the time he was involved in another way. “I was also one of the figures in George Segal’s bus stop sculpture” at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers.
But what about Wright’s own artwork? First there is his interest in abstracting figures. Using the metaphor of a clean room, he says he enjoys a room that is “clean and precise and polished” and he has an obsession to “get every single spot out, every bump out, and make it almost perfect.”
Then there are the figures and shapes. Using his GFS artwork “Sleep”—a four-section series featuring an eye and lip — as an example, he says, “I’m trying to tell a story. (The eyes and ears) are elements of design, elements to tell a story. The lips show you feel or if you’re stressed . It is very hard to hide emotions with the eyes and lip. I don’t have to use the full figure. My idea is to break (figures) down to the simplest form and simplest shape. That’s pretty much what I do with all my work.”
He also wants those encountering the work to engage their own sensibilities and ideas. “I believe that the viewer is the artist. I feel like a momma. I get pregnant with an idea and give them a baby. I imagine me birthing a piece, but it doesn’t have to be my friend. The viewer would give it a relationship.”
Sometimes to engage the viewer more he leaves the works unnamed. “A person will be spending hours trying to see what you see, rather than having a relationship with the piece.”
Looking at his works as a whole, he says, “One common thread is sensuality. I spend a lot of time seeing it with my fingers. You can almost feel that in all my work. You want to touch it. That comes from my personality, who I am as a human being. I spend more time seeing with my fingers. It’s all in the touch. It’s part of the process. My process is more tactile than anything else. If it doesn’t feel right, it bothers me. It has to feel right.”
Continuing the thought, he adds, “I’m from the islands. They say we’re very sensual. When I came to America it was different — everything was angular and flat. I worked more organically. It took me a while get used to American work and accept it.”
He says working in different media also reflects his personality. “I think I’m a scientist in way. If I weren’t in art I would be doing experiments,” he says.
Now, gesturing to the space, he adds, “This has become my lab. I create with anything — if I don’t have bronze, I use wood. I gravitate to new material. My earlier work was in cement and wood.”
Yet a constant is his approach to using volume and space. “You have to solve it, you have to make it work. You have to see it in its entirety. It’s all in your head. You start on paper, start in drawing. But when you start to work it is very technical, and that’s why I like it.”
“Wood is my first love,” he says. “You always go back to your first love. It still lingers in the back of your mind. I think wood is very seductive. It already has quality to it. As an artist you enhance it. If you want to go way back wood was the medium of choice. Even religion had wood — trees have ways of communication. Trees have a spirit and a soul. I think I’m just helping keep that alive. I pretty much use what was given to me and respect it and bring out what is already there. So people can see what the possibilities are. To develop some respect to what is given to us.”
A resident of Trenton since his atelier days, Wright says, “I ended up purchasing a house from other atelier artists. Back then almost the entire staff ended up in Trenton.”
And although he is not in a formal relationship, Wright engages with through art. In addition to naming works after his mother, daughters, godsons, friends, and partners, instead of a generic “Untitled” series he also engages family in art making and workshops.
“It’s because of my experimental nature,” he says. “I’m not committed to any one material, same thing in life. I open up to experimenting, working with other materials.”
Riverside Silos/Shaping Spaces, Arts Council of Princeton, Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton. Opening Saturday, March 23, with an artist talk, 2 to 3 p.m., and reception, 3 to 5 p.m. On view through May 4. Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free. 609-924-8777 or www.artscouncilofprinceton.org.
https://autinwright.com/2019/03/14/sculptor-wright-shapes-space-and-himself/
Stand Up Men is a celebration of Trenton’s African-American male artists and their use of canvas, photography, and sculpture to convey the pathos of what it means to exist as a man within the realm of Trenton’s Black culture and beyond. We invite you to explore the world within Trenton which is largely ignored or subsumed by perceptions of rampant violence and urban decay. “Stand Up Men” inhabits the world of the quiet, deliberate Trenton arts movement forged in love, life, and courage. Featuring Will “Kasso” Condry, Habiyb Shu’Aib, and Autin Dean Wright.
Trenton City Museum
299 Parkside Ave, Trenton, NJ 08606
(609) 989-3632
Exhibit is February 2-March 3, 2019
Opening reception is February 2 from 6-7 p.m. for members only and from 7-8:30 p.m. for general admission.
https://autinwright.com/2019/01/08/stand-up-men/
https://patch.com/new-jersey/haddon/haddonfield-nonprofit-adds-3-board-directors
HOST announced three notable additions to its board on WednesdayHADDONFIELD, NJ – The Haddonfield Outdoor Sculpture Trust (HOST) announced the addition of three notable members to its Board of Directors on Wednesday. The following new members have all accepted invitations to help guide the Haddonfield nonprofit:
HOST is working with the borough to create a public/private outdoor art initiative that has populated downtown locations in Haddonfield with more than 20 rotational, contemporary outdoor sculpture. Sculpture acquisitions are funded by private and corporate donors.
Wright was born and raised on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. A graduate of the Edna Manley School of Visual Art in Kingston, he was honored with a Certificate of Merit as well as a gold, a silver, and two bronze medals at Jamaica’s Annual Festival of Fine Arts Exhibition. His work was included in the National Fine Arts Exhibition in Jamaica, and he was the recipient of the Simon Bolivar Sculpture Competition Award hosted by the Venezuela Embassy in Jamaica.
Wright moved to the United States in 1987. After graduating from the Connecticut Institute of Art in Greenwich, he became the Technical Supervisor for Paint and Patina at the Johnson Atelier Institute of Sculpture in Mercerville.
Koffman is a Philadelphia based sculptor known for his expressive and dramatic large-scale bronze sculptures. Koffman is an elected member of the National Sculpture Society, and a recipient of many distinguished awards among which are the Alex J. Ettl Grant, the John Cavanaugh Memorial Prize, and First Place in the Grand Central Academy’s Sculpture Competition. His work appears in numerous public and private collections and can be seen in Philadelphia’s F.A.N. gallery. In 2007 Koffman co-founded the Philadelphia Traction Company, a collaborative workspace and art center in West Philadelphia, where Koffman continues to model, cast, and create.
Koffman was captivated by Greek and Renaissance art at an early age. He pursued a formal art education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, earning a BA in Fine Art. Desiring advanced study, Koffman then enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he currently teaches. Koffman’s bronze Europa is currently on loan to the borough of Haddonfield located near the intersection of Chestnut Street and Kings Highway.
Cowperthwait has managed the Haddonfield Republic Bank for nearly eight years, and brings business acumen and financial expertise to the HOST board. The organization believes his connection to and understanding of the Haddonfield business community will prove invaluable, as it has in HOST’s years of established partnership with Republic Bank.
“I am so thrilled to share my vision of outdoor sculpture in Haddonfield with such a fine and diverse board,” HOST Chair Stuart Harting said. “Seeing passion for outdoor sculpture reflected in the faces around me at each board meeting fills me with joy. We know that our 2019 board additions will bring experience and savvy to help us expand our collection, deepen our network of friends and contributors, and improve management of our nonprofit.”
In addition to Harting, other members of the board include:
https://autinwright.com/2019/01/03/haddonfield-nonprofit-adds-3-to-board-of-directors/