Many times  artists are criticized for having too diverse a body of work; but I believe in the old adage "Variety is the Spice of Life".   I feel this concept to be essential to an individuals growth;  for without constant exposure to new experiences we become stagnant.  When we become too "focused" in a single direction of thought we lose our perspective as to what is important to the "significant others" in our lives. The result can lead to an insensitivity within each of us that is no less detrimental to ourselves, than those around us.  Art and our exposure to the "variety" of it, is essential to this fundamental understanding of the world around us.  Our rewards to this exposure, is the inevitable enrichment of our life, as well as the lives of those whom we come into contact with.   An artist, as with any individual should be focused on this concept above all else.

Jerry  Ward Working as a sculptor since 1974. Though I use wood as my primary medium I also work in metal and more recently have entered into "cold casting".  I am among a handful of pioneers from the mid seventies to first use the chain saw in the wood carving process. In later years as skill permitted I began completing many pieces using the chainsaw alone. Almost all of my wood sculpture begins with the use of the chainsaw.  I use it as a 3d sketching tool, similar to using charcoal to sketch on paper.  From there, to further shape and refine the form I use, as I like to say, anything that cuts wood.

 The work you will see on these pages therefore includes a variety of sculpture ranging from the coarser textured rustic look as provided by the chainsaw, to well defined finer finished work you might expect a knife or a piece of sandpaper to produce.  

 Background Story

The impetus for my becoming an artist was born out of sibling rivalry  at the early age of seven... It happened when my sister had been one of the few in her class chosen by her teacher to attend Summer Art School.

I was a mere seven years of age and she was just a year older than I.  I was jealous to the core when she would come home from her summer classes with her art projects.  It was explained to me I was not old enough to be in the class but it didn't help my feelings. I was hurt that I couldn't go, and needless to say I spent much of that summer doing my own art projects so that I could compete for my parents praise. It must have been difficult times for my parents as well.

This was but one of the many challenges thrown into my path, each of which served only to make me more determined in my direction.  The adversity I encountered in becoming a visual artist has served me well in honing the competitive edge.  It takes a stubborn determination to create excellence in any endeavor.  But the perseverance required in producing a piece of art is perhaps no more cumulatively apparent than in visual art. That is to say that in each piece of an artists work resides a composite of his life's struggle in achievement up to that point in time. 

This "embossing" of a cat in copper was done at age 9 while at a summer church camp. If there was a budding artist represented here, it is not apparent. It remains my earliest surviving work of art.

While doing undergraduate work at Central Michigan University I was faced with determining what my curriculum concentration would be. This was the sixties and minimalism and pop art was going full bore.  I was inclined toward realism and surrealism at the time, but I could find no courses which allowed that direction.  Every course save one, drawing, seemed to have instructors who worshiped Andy Warhol, his influence was dominant everywhere.  In the end I found it didn't matter what course you take, it's the instructor you take. Painting as a media, was as dominant in the art world as it is today.  Sculpture was near nonexistent. I decided I would have to pursue that on my own 

It wasn't until some time later, while working on my masters degree at Wayne State University that I developed a love for working with wood.  This occurred during a printmaking class that required for one of the projects, a print from a woodcut.  I was immediately captivated by the forming process as well as the intricate textures I was able to create.  The print from the woodcut was disappointing compared to the image made in the wood itself. From that time forward I was hooked on wood and the third dimension I was able to create with it.

A woodcut in essence is, of course, a relief carving, and relief carving was therefore the next logical progression to my growth as a sculptor. Subsequent carvings drove me deeper and deeper into the surface (high relief) and I used progressively thicker pieces of wood for each new carving until I was doing relief work that was much to heavy to hang on a wall.  Again the next logical step was to make free standing sculpture.

A TOOL WITH PROMISE- THE CHAINSAW The onset of the eighties decade brought a flurry of activity. Most of it through the introduction of the Chainsaw to my carving process.   Though I used a chainsaw for carving for the first time in 1974.  I never made more than three or four chainsaw carvings between then and 1979. Chainsaws of the seventies were generally large, cumbersome, heavy and underpowered for carving when compared to those you can buy today.

Then early in 1979 the Education Oak project was offered to me. This was Michigan's most historic tree which had finally succumbed to age.  It was the tree where in the 1830's Isaac Crary and John Pierce sat in the cool of it's shade, and laid down on paper the foundation for Michigan's educational system.  A system which ultimately led to the creation of Michigan State University as the nations first Land Grant College.

It was important to my development as an artist since it taught me that the chainsaw could be a valuable sculpture tool.  I could not have accomplished this feat without it.

STAR STUDIOS, the name I use for my business, has evolved from a sign I made in 1970.  The original sign was carved by me simply as an example of carving technique for my students.  But it became the inspiration for me to carve others that I would sell.  Later when I required a sales tax license to sell my work in Michigan I used the name of that sign on the application, since in spirit in represented my commercial beginnings. The original sign said "Star Farm Store", and I was soon to find out the Farm part of it just didn't work.  Especially when shortly after listing my business with the State of Michigan, I began receiving all sorts of junk mail from seed and farm implement companies. To avoid that and other confusing things that happened I reluctantly dropped the "Farm" part and decided that the word "Studio" really was more fitting than Store. The "s" had to be added on to the end of that because someone already had used Star Studio for their business name.  Now I receive catalogs for dance studios. To much of my history is involved with the past to change the name now, so I guess I will just have to live with it.