Edward Fleming’s career as a sculptor has taken a curvilinear form that echoes his work in stone. It began with studying sculpture while attending Occidental College in Los Angeles, California from 1974 to 1976. Sculpture continued to be a vital interest, even after starting a 5-year BA program at Tulane University’s School of Architecture in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1976. While studying architecture, apprenticing with architectural firms and beginning a design practice, he continued to make sculpture, although his artistic attention began steadily moving into the realm of buildings.
In 1981 Fleming returned to his hometown of Washington, DC. He continued his apprentice work with architectural firms while studying for board exams as well as designing and building houses on his own. Even though at this point there was virtually no time for sculpture as art, he firmly believed that buildings, particularly houses, could be designed and built as sculpture-one-lives-in. He committed himself to this ideal at the inception of his professional practice in 1983. For the duration of his professional architectural career, he designed and built mostly residential projects, which are indeed sculptures that people live in.
In 1993 he started a program in stone sculpture at the Corcoran School of Art located in Washington DC. His artistic response to stone was so powerful that within a short time he was juggling his full-time architecture practice with what became almost full-time carving. Discovering an intense desire to return to sculpture as art, he dedicated himself to exploration and learning as an artist.
The next few years were nomadic and highly educational. In the summer of 1994, he went to Pietrasanta, Italy for the first time, to study at the Pietrasanta Marble Carving Studio with Pasquale Martini and Cesare Riva. After that, he and his family moved from Washington, DC to Corrales, New Mexico for a year. Fleming devoted most of his time there to making stone sculpture and apprenticing part-time with sculptor Doug Hyde in Santa Fe. In the summer of 1995, Fleming and his family returned to Pietrasanta for a half-year where Fleming studied further at the same studio. After leaving Italy, he and his family spent six months living in Costa Rica, before finally returning to New Mexico in 1996. They moved to Galisteo, NM in the spring of 1997. This has become home-base; Fleming finished building his studio there in 2000 and now lives and works in Galisteo.
Since moving to Galisteo, Fleming has continued his formal art education. He has studied human anatomy at the Santa Fe Art Institute with painter Geoff Lawrence, portrait sculpture with sculptor Stephanie Huerta, drawing with painter Elias Rivera, as well as consistently attending artists’ figure-drawing groups in Santa Fe. He returned to Pietrasanta for a half-year in 2001, sharing studio space and learning from sculptor Rino Gianinni, elder marble artisan Pellacane Blasco and sculptor Rinaldo Bovecchi. During that time Fleming also studied figure-drawing at the Academy of Fine Art in Carrara.
In the beginning of 2001, Fleming made the decision to create sculpture full-time, drawing to a close his full-time architectural career and thus completing his circular path back to sculpture as art. The focus of his work is the human form; his artist’s statement gives an expanded understanding of Fleming’s relationship to his work.
Edward Fleming's CV follows, below:
CV:
Born:
21 November 1955, Washington DC, USA
Education:
Occidental College, Los Angeles, California:
Sculpture;Architecture History:1974-75
Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana:
Bachelor of Architecture:1976-81
Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC:
Stone Sculpture: 1993-94
Doug Hyde Studio, SantaFe, New Mexico:
Stone carving apprentice: 1994
Pietrasanta Marble Carving Studio,Pietrasanta,Italy: Stone Sculpture: 1994-95
SantaFe Art Institute, SantaFe, New Mexico:
Anatomy: 1998
Academy of Fine Art, Carrera, Italy:
Figure Drawing: 2001-2002
Elias Rivera Studio:
Figure Drawing: 2003-present
Career:
Architectural Practice: starting in 1977;
licensed in 1983;
principal of firm since 1983
Builder/Contractor: since 1981
Stone Sculptor: since 1993, full-time since 2001
Group Shows:
2000:
August: Gallery 944, SantaFe, New Mexico
2002:
May: Wilds Gallery, Hikawagun Shimaneken, Japan
October: Corrales, NM Visual Arts Council,
14th Annual Fine Arts Exhibition
2003:
August: Sculpture in the Park, Loveland, Colorado
September: Viselaya National Sculpture Competition, Concord Massachusetts
September: Hammer, Chisel and Stone Gallery, Morro Bay, California
September: Galisteo Fiesta art show and auction, Galisteo, New Mexico
October: Shidoni Gallery, Tesuque, NM
October: Corrales, NM Visual Arts Council, 15th Annual Fine Arts Exhibition
October: Galisteo Studio Tour, Galisteo, New Mexico
December: Hammer, Chisel and Stone Gallery, Morro Bay, California
2004
April: Sculptor’s Dominion Invitational Show, San Antonio, Texas
May: Hammer, Chisel and Stone Gallery, Morro Bay, California
August: Sculpture in the Park, Loveland, Colorado
September: National Sculpture Society, New York, NY
October: Galisteo Studio Tour, Galisteo, New Mexico
2005:
June: Evergreen Sculpture Walk, Evergreen, Colorado
June: Carol Robinson Gallery 25th Anniversary Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana
September: Viselaya National Sculpture Competition, Concord, Massachusetts
October: Galisteo Studio Tour, Galisteo, New Mexico
October: Carol Robinson Gallery Virtual Show
November: Justin Rober Galleries 2nd Anniversary Exhibition, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2006:
September: National Sculpture Society Annual Awards Exhibition, Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield, Connecticut
October: Galisteo Studio Tour, Galisteo, New Mexico
2007:
January: National Sculpture Society Annual Awards Exhibition, Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina
June: Hudson Valley Art Association 76th annual exhibition, New York City
June: Evergreen Sculpture Walk, Evergreen, Colorado
June: New Mexico Sculptors Guild Annual Exhibition, Santa Fe, New Mexico
October: Sculpture at the RiverMarket, Little Rock, Arkansas
Solo Shows:
2005:
August: Justin Robert Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Awards:
>2007: People's Choice Award, Brookgreen Gardens/National Sculpture Society
>2006: National Sculpture Society Bronze Medal and Pietro and Alfrieda Montana Memorial Prize
>2005: Prize for Sensitivity of Expression, Viselaya National Sculpture Comptetition, Concord, Massachusetts
>2005: Prize for Communication of an Important Conceptual Theme, Viselaya National Sculpture Competition, Concord, Massachusetts
>2003: Best Sculpture in Show, Corrales Visual Arts Council
>2002: Second in Show, Corrales Visual Arts Council
Commissions:
El Dorado Animal Clinic, Santa Fe, New Mexico
West Basin Preserve, Galisteo, New Mexico
Ice Family, Monahans, Texas
New Moon Overlook, Galisteo, New Mexico
Nancy Helle, Galisteo, New Mexico
Southern Crescent, Lamy, New Mexico
Lameroux Family, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Galleries/Representation:
Carol Robinson Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
Justin Robert Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico
(View
Artist's Statement)
