Charlie
Wyman
Metal
Sculptor
Artist
When I was in high school, there was something about playing with fire that really appealed to me; something about pulling pieces of red-hot steel from the forge and shaping it with my hammer; something about grinding metal and watching as the sparks flew. There was something about using fire, heat, and brute force to transform a plain piece of sheet metal into something new and unique. I was exposed to metalworking processes I had only read about. I learned how to cast, how to use a forge, and how to weld. For the remainder of high school, I used every possible opportunity to slip into the metal shop and get a torch in my hand, whether I was in the class or not.
This passion for metalwork continued to grow as I entered college. I attended Whitman College, where I received my degree in Applied Mathematics. During my four years at Whitman, sculpture was my creative escape from the mind-draining world of integrals, matrices, and relativity. I worked with bronze, steel, and copper, and sought to include wood, stone, and even water as my work progressed. My senior year, what I had learned thus far culminated in my design and fabrication of a life-sized Great Blue Heron, a piece that remains a special favorite of mine.
Growing up in Seattle, I was fortunate enough to experience the beauty of northwest beaches, and the San Juan Islands in particular. Every summer, my family would sail up through the San Juan and Gulf Islands, where we fished, hiked, swam, watched the wildlife, and took in the serenity of our surroundings. It is not surprising that these summers became the source of inspiration for many of my sculptures. I hope that, through my work, others will be able to experience the emotion surrounding the adventure, curiosity, and beauty that I felt during those childhood summers. - Charlie Wyman