“The realizations that come to artists as they are making their work can be transformative,” says Arkansas sculptor Robyn Horn.
This transformation can be appreciated in the refined carving of Continuous Motion.
Born to a family of artists, Horn did not discover wood sculpting until she was 32 when her brother-in-law introduced her to the lathe — a machine used to shape wood.
Horn’s work quickly moved away from bowls and vases, taking on more spherical and elongated forms.
Frustrated with the rounded limitations of the lathe, Horn engaged further with wood as a medium, working with different hand tools and saws.
Finding her voice, Horn was inspired by established, large-form wood sculptors Barbara Hepworth and David Nash — both represented in the Museum’s collection.
Hepworth’s concentration on the balance between mass and space pushed her work to become increasingly open, hollowed out, and perforated.
The negative space being as important as the sculpture itself is a principle that became increasingly important in Horn’s work.
Echoes of Marcel Duchamp’s painting, Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2), are also clear within Horn’s work not only in the forms, but in the creation of implied motion.
Using chainsaws and hand tools, she transforms the surface — creating an illusion that appears as a series of attached components rather than a single solid whole.
