Happy Holidays! Wandering Educators has a special gift for you. This month’s Artist of the Month is the Amazing Newfoundland Sculptor Jim Maunder. His work is absolutely thought-provoking and will make you want to know more about this artist.

Jim’s work seems to tell a story about life or about what life should be. His gift seems to be to make contemplative thoughts visible in the most gentle way. He has a story to tell, and he wants you to realize what your part of that story might be. His materials and subject matter vary widely, and his technique ranges from traditional to contemporary. 

We are truly honored to be able to share with you Jim’s wonderful work here on Wandering Educators. Please leave us your thoughts on this fabulous artist. 

Andrea and I wish for each of you to find peace and love this Holiday Season! We will be back next year with more delightful artists.

How long have you been an artist? 

I have been drawing and making things since I was a kid but didn’t take art seriously until I was around 18.  So nearly 40 years. 

Is art your full time career?

It is for the moment. Sometimes I teach or work part-time to help pay for my art habit, but for the moment it is full-time art.

Prevailing

Potato Farm

Do you have favorite places you like to create?

I’ve usually done most of my work in a shed in my back yard but the times I really have enjoyed are when I have had a shared studio with other artists. It’s like being at art school again, getting inspiration and critique from other creative people. I have recently moved into a new shared space and am looking forward to getting to work there. 

Acquiesce

From Water

What does a typical day look like?  Is there a typical day?

I try to spend about 30% of my working time on paperwork and promotion. There are always things to apply for, galleries to contact, and details to iron out. The rest of the time I am usually in my studio (shed) welding, grinding and hammering on steel or making clay maquettes and molds for casting, or drawing up ideas. There is a lot of variety. 

Woman doing handstand on a fish

What materials do you prefer?

I work in steel, clay, bronze and various other materials like wood, copper, and concrete. I guess I prefer whichever material seems to fit the particular project at the time, although clay is the friendliest and most forgiving medium for sculpture and I use it to make originals for bronze casting. In my new studio, I plan to spend more time working with clay and also pastels and painting.

Intervention                                                  

Sprout                                       

Prototype

Where/How are you inspired?

In most cases my ideas come to me fully formed. They can come at any time and my main challenge is to try to make them come to fruition without over thinking them. My life experiences have shaped my work. I have spent most of my life living by the sea, witnessing the toll on nature and humankind caused by the demise of once abundant fish stocks. My sculptures, whether figurative or semi-abstract, express my deeply held views on the environment, the frailty of the human condition and the resilience of the human spirit.

Human nudes and fish often appear in my work. The fish represent the vulnerability of nature and also refer to religious and sexual aspects of fish imagery. By combining the human forms with fish, I suggest our own vulnerability as a species, and also our responsibility in the equation. With the naked body, I express the temporary and vulnerable nature of life, as well as the pure joy and aesthetic beauty of being alive. Recent advancements in the science of genetic engineering and cloning, and the moral dilemmas they present, have added another layer to my continued exploration of the complexities of the interaction between humans and our environment.   

Man Nailed to a Fish                       

Buoyancy

If you were not a painter/sculptor/photographer, etc. what would you do?

I would be a writer and/or filmmaker. I have enjoyed doing both of these things in the past.

Near the Wind            

These Shoes                

Two Cubed

The Persistence of Fish Memory Coffee Table            

Trinity Fish Table

How can our readers find and purchase your art?

My work can be found through my website www.jimmaunder.ca

and through The Christina Parker Gallery in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, www.christinaparkergallery.com  

and The Gallery on the Bay in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, www.galleryonthebay.ca 

My 4-Year-Old’s Tree #1                

My 4-Year-Old’s Tree #2

St. Patrick’s Hall Schools Memorial Wall

Celebration

Making Fish

Kim Rodeffer Funk is the Art Editor for Wandering Educators. She notes, "I am an abstract painter and have enjoyed living a creative life for many years. In 2012, I co-founded Atelier 325 with Andrea Hupke de Palacio, and today show my art in Europe and the United States."

You can find her at http://www.kimrodefferfunk.net/

All photos courtesy and copyright Jim Maunder