Editorial
Front Page - Friday, December 10, 2010
Sculpting a message for all, local artist makes art public, accessible
Erica Tuggle
Isaac Duncan III, a sculptor and the owner of Duncan Sculpture and Services in Chattanooga, stands next to a 18-foot high example of his work called “Matriarch” in front of Alleia Restaurant on East Main Street. Duncan’s work employs heavy and cumbersome materials of an industrial nature, which makes his art both an effort of physical and mental endurance.
- Erica Tuggle
Unexpectedly seeing a work of art out in public is like running into an old friend and reconnecting with them, remembering how much you enjoy their company. Public art works are a way for everyone to enjoy art and share in their universal beauty. Chattanooga sculptor Isaac Duncan III is one of these artists who bring their pieces out in public, and thereby help connect the community with art.
Duncan grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. and attended the University of Notre Dame where he received a Bachelors of Fine Arts, as well as soon earning a secondary education degree in art education. He moved to Michigan, began teaching elementary school art and met a sculptor named Richard Hunt, labeled by the Smithsonian in 2000 as the preeminent sculptor of the 20th century.
Duncan says thanks to Hunt’s guidance, he was able to understand the art world, the difference in creating fine art works and what different types of art exist. During Duncan’s undergraduate years, his work was based on socio-political and gender issues, but he says once he started teaching, he was able to focus more on the basics of creating and allowing his sculptures to unify people by their visual aspects and complexity as well as their simplicity and elegance.
“I still have the same goal of creating pieces of art that will act as a conduit and spot for dialogue between people who wouldn’t normally have conversations,” he says.
Duncan’s art also made the transition into larger scale pieces and public works when, during his fellowship at the University of Kentucky where he received his master’s degree, he met artist John Henry. Duncan was impacted by Henry’s early involvement with a movement of artists pushing for outdoor sculptures in municipal settings, parks and outside galleries using industrial materials that were often based off of a theory or a thought process.
After school, Duncan began working for Henry in Chattanooga as the supervisor for his crew. He says he learned the knowledge of a Ph. D. in art as he built, operated, painted and drove Henry’s pieces to their final destination, sometimes cross–country. After working for Henry, Duncan decided it was time for him to change gears to focus on his own art.
“I didn’t have that discipline after working of going straight to my studio for the simple fact that when I came here, I came here with the family and they were my priority to spend time with instead of all day in the studio,” he says.
“I have priorities that go beyond just my love of my art and the life of being an artist. At certain times, you have to make certain sacrifices, and the family wasn’t one of them.”
He opened Duncan Sculp-ture and Services in mid-2008, and says he has gotten a good response from Chattanooga at shows, in commissions and in side jobs for commercial businesses.
Because Duncan’s art medium is stainless steel and industrial materials, he has a studio not of canvas and paint but a room full of welders, chop saws, band saws, torches, plasma cutters and a forklift for when the pieces, as they frequently do, get large.
“It’s a lot of physical and definitely a lot of mental work, because it is not just putting things together,” Duncan says. “I have to actually engineer my pieces and make sure they are solid and structural.”
To do this, Duncan uses tools it has taken him years to accumulate by buying piece by piece and investing to improve and expand the borders of his artwork.
Duncan is proud of his inventory of tools that he has foregone usual vices to save for and thus invested in himself.
Before the tools come into play, though, Duncan creates miniature figures of his sculptures. These will become larger projects, sometimes measuring eight to nine feet high, and are almost always part of a larger series.
One of Duncan’s stainless steel pieces called “Matriarch,” measuring 18–feet high, can be seen on Main Street in front of Alleia restaurant, and another in the form of a large raptor spreading its wings in the Critter Corner classroom at Rock City. Duncan does commercial work as well, like with the boutique “Rhinoceros” and the high cocktail bar “The Social,” both on Warehouse Row.
When not making work, applying for a commission, putting materials together for a client or spending time with his family, Duncan is involved in music and DJ’s at The Social every Thursday night.
Duncan says he wants everyone to think about supporting the arts and artists by buying real art in its various affordable forms and supporting art outdoors and indoors that works to change communities for the better.
To see more examples of Duncan’s work, visit www.sculpture.org or www.midsouthsculpture.org, or call 859-420-4292.
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