Sculpture — JOHN UTGAARD

Square Butte

2024

glazed stoneware

12” x 20” x 13”

Square Butte.5.jpg

Square Butte Detail.jpg

Square Butte.3.jpg

Tall Presence over Yellow Domes

2023

glazed earthenware, epoxy and aluminum rods

12” x 11” x 9”

Resurgent Landscape

2023

glazed earthenware

6” x 10” x 11”

Indomitable Landscape

2023

glazed earthenware, epoxy and aluminum rods

8” x 7” x 7”

Canyon Fragment

2022

glazed earthenware

2” x 8” x 7”

Mountain Body over Blue Landscape

2023

glazed earthenware, epoxy and aluminum rods

9” x 9” x 8”

Night Mountain Presence

2023

glazed earthenware, epoxy and aluminum rods

9” x 7” x 7”

Floating Beartooth

2023

glazed earthenware, epoxy and aluminum rods

11” x 6” x 6”

Roots of the Mountain

2023

glazed earthenware, epoxy and aluminum rods

11” x 8” x 8”

Yellow Spires

2023

glazed earthenware

6” x 7” x 5”

Clutch

2022

glazed earthenware

3” x 5” x 5”

Russel Point Presence

2022

glazed earthenware

4” x 4” x 5”

Yellow Mountain Presence

2022

glazed earthenware

2” x 5” x 5”

Blue Sine Fragment

2022

glazed earthenware

3” x 2” x 2”

Ecosystem

2022

glazed earthenware

6” x 5” x 4”

Cleave

2022

glazed earthenware

5” x 3” x 4”

Beartooth Fragment

2022

glazed earthenware

6” x 4” x 4”

Red Divide

2022

glazed earthenware

2” x 6” x 5”

Black Mountain Body in Blue Landscape

2023

glazed earthenware

9” x 11” x 7”

Artemis Mountain Body

2023

glazed earthenware, epoxy and aluminum rods

9” x 5” x 7”

Blue Mountain Cloud

2023

glazed earthenware, epoxy and aluminum rods

9” x 7” x 5”

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Back to Sculpture

Tall Presence over Yellow Domes

Resurgent Landscape

Indomitable Landscape

Canyon Fragment

Mountain Body over Blue Landscape

Night Mountain Presence

Floating Beartooth

Roots of the Mountain

Russel Point Presence

Yellow Mountain Presence

Blue Sine Fragment

Beartooth Fragment

Black Mountain Body in Blue Landscape

Artemis Mountain Body

Blue Mountain Cloud

I have long been fascinated by the unconsciousness; the hidden mental substrate that we all share. It’s the silent audience to our inner narration, a presence we can feel and see evidence of, but never view directly. In What It Is, Lynda Barry describes playing by herself as a child and the presence of something else “playing back.” I think this mysterious part of ourselves is critical to how we develop imagination, and from imagination, empathy. In spite of our current moment of dissonance and crisis, I still see hope in the power of these things to connect us. My current work began as a meditation on these themes, but grew to include others, including memory, landscape, and the body, as well as the self-organizing principle of matter and how it relates to life, evolution, and the development of consciousness.