Exhibition: Rhythm and Whimsy by Richard Swanson

Helena sculptor and ceramist Richard Swanson has been making art since he came to Montana in 1974 for a residency at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts. His interest in large-scale sculptural materials led him back to graduate school at the University of Montana in 1994. Since then, he has created numerous public works and embarked on several notable collaborations with dancers and choreographers in museum, theatrical, and natural settings, including Amy Ragsdale, choreographer and art director of the Montana Transport Company.
This exhibition was organized by the Holter Museum of Art and is touring the state through the Montana Art Gallery Directors Association (MAGDA). Swanson began this series of small-scale metal sculptures in 2013 after a decade of creating monumental public sculpture. The intimate scale of this body of work offers a level of spontaneity difficult to achieve in larger works, reflecting a freer use of color, form, and line. In addition, the works embrace an improvisational approach that is as much about process and play as the final product. Swanson considers these sculptures visual poems whose colorful rhythms suggest a story or fragment of a dream. Swanson says, “Whether I am working abstractly or figuratively, on an intimate scale or monumental, I am constantly combining and simplifying to enhance the way forms relate and flow together. The interaction of rhythm and balance is a defining aesthetic for all my work.”