Carolyn Olbum "Metamorphose"

Carolyn Olbum
‘Metamorphose’
February 1st – March 5th, 2017

Gail Severn Gallery is pleased to present ‘Metamorphose’, an exhibition of new sculpture by Carolyn Olbum.

Carolyn Olbum is a collector, observer and creator. Inspired by her natural surroundings, Olbum gathers dried vines and branches, seedpods and fallen leaves – the evidence of natural histories occurring all around us. Studying these materials in her studio, she then begins the artistic process of transformation by translating the collected materials into new organic forms, layering the natural and artificial in cast bronze. Carolyn holds a degree in sculpture and fine arts from Chatham University and was a ceramicist for many years. As her forms evolved, she transitioned from the clay medium and began working in cast bronze.

Discussing her new series of work Olbum notes that “it is the combination of fallen tree limbs; their simplicity and elegance that have inspired me. Empty bird’s nests arranged in crevices and niches of the barren trees, that suggest an element of mystery and history, of life in nature.”

Through the transformative process of bronze casting, Olbum creates her own sculptural mythologies that tell of the evidence of lived life, the passage of time, the mysterious and the ethereal.