Eric Thorsen | |
---|---|
Born | October 6, 1967 |
Known for | Sculpture |
Notable work | "Mystery of the Redd" |
Awards | Carl E. Akeley Award, Best In World winner 1992 World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships; [1] Award of Excellence 2000, Society of Animal Artists; Ralph "Tuffy" Berg Award, C. M. Russell Show 1996; People's Choice Award Best Sculpture 2000–2003 C. M. Russell Shows |
Patron(s) | Nike Corporation; Washington Park Zoo; Norwalk City Center; [2] Cameron Park and Zoological and Botanical Sciences; Lowes Hardware; John D. MacArthur State Park |
Eric Thorsen (born October 6, 1967) is an American painter and sculptor known for his wildlife sculpture and fish carvings which have won him multiple awards at major art shows nationwide including "Best In World" at the 1992 World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships. [1] [3] [4] At age 24 he is the youngest recipient of this award. [5] Breakthrough magazine described him as "More than Promising" [5] and his work has "an uncanny realism". [3] Thorsen has appeared on TV shows and YouTube [6] and his artwork can be found in prominent public spaces, [7] private collections, and on product labels. He has been commissioned to create artwork for corporate entities such as Nike Inc., [8] Lowe's, [9] Coca-Cola, [10] Walt Disney Attractions, Inc. [10] and national non profit groups. [10] [11] He is a resident of Bigfork, Montana.
Thorsen was born on October 6, 1967, in Glasgow, Montana. He is the son of Marcus Walter Thorsen and Denise Renee Meunier. His father, while in active service in the U.S. Air Force, met Denise Meunier in Le Mans, France. They soon married and moved to Glasgow, Montana, in 1965. Eric was born on the Glasgow, Montana, air force base. [12] Later the family would move to St. Charles, Illinois. Thorsen would spend summers growing up with his mother's family in France visiting the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, Musee du Rodin and Picasso's museum in Paris. [12] He studied works of Rodin, Picasso, Matisse and many other painters and sculptors.
Active in boy scouts, Thorsen earned the Eagle Scout rank. [13] He graduated high school at age 17 in 1985 from St. Charles High School located in St. Charles, Illinois. Following his graduation from St. Charles High School, Thorsen moved back to his home state of Montana and attended the University of Montana where he studied for several years but did not graduate. [13] Thorsen carved wood sculptures in his college dorm room [13] [12] and his first exhibition was in the Ghost Art Gallery in Butte, Montana, in 1988. Thorsen exhibited his works of art while in college and left his studies to pursue creating artwork as a full-time career. [13]
In 1990, Thorsen was contracted to create sculptures to be reproduced by Tom Taber Co. [13] to be used as fundraising items for Ducks Unlimited. [10] Soon after, in 1991, Eric created sculptures for the Meissenburg Design Company commissioned by companies such as Coca-Cola, Walt Disney Attractions, Inc. and non-profit groups. [10] [14] [13]
In 1995, Thorsen started creating sculptures for Big Sky Carvers with thousands of pieces being sold and millions of dollars being generated [10] [15] for non-profit groups nationwide, including Ducks Unlimited. [10] [16]
In 1993, he opened a gallery and studio in Bigfork, Montana. [17] [18] [19]
Thorsen met his future wife, Cyndy Askeland, at the University of Montana in 1987. Askeland majored in education and graduated in 1991 with a degree in education. They were married on August 17, 1991, and two children were born to the couple, daughters Gabrielle and Madelaine.
Eric Thorsen is known for his hyper-realistic style in woodcarving. [20] Early in his career he was drawn to the hyper-realism style being explored by other wood sculptors such as Franz Dutzler and Jett Brunett. In 1992 he entered his woodcarving titled "Mystery of the Redd" into the World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships and won the "Best in World" award and title for 1992-1995. [3] [1] [13] [21] At age 23 he is the youngest recipient of this award. [5] Breakthrough magazine wrote about his "Best in World" award-winning sculpture at the World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships. "The bright hues of the three fish, the details of the scales and the flex of each fin have an uncanny realism. It's as if the fish were frozen in action for the person to touch". [3] [1] [21]
In 1995, Thorsen began sculpting in clay creating both stylized and lifelike sculptures of both figurative and animal subjects. [12] [22] and casting his sculptures in bronze. [23] [24] [4] [25] Examples of work created include "The Coop", a bronze sculpture depicting Cynthia Cooper for the Nike Campus in Beaverton, Oregon. [8] [26] and "Children & Doves", City Civic Center, City of Norwalk, California. [27] Thorsen sculpted a life-size bald eagle bust in under 30 minutes for the C. M. Russell Museum Quickdraw event in 1996. [28]
A bronze sculpture by Thorsen, valued at $18,500, was stolen from Norwalk Civic Center in 2015. [29] [30] The bronze, which the thieves had taken to a metal recycler, was later recovered. [31]
Thorsen volunteers at local schools teaching CAD Software and 3D printing technology in the classroom. [32] [33] [34] His sculptures have raised funds for non-profit organizations throughout the US and Canada through the following organizations: National Ducks Unlimited; National Elk Foundation; and the National Wild Turkey Federation. Thorsen has also raised funds for a dozen or more other organizations, the list of which is too numerous to mention here.
Thorsen's artwork has been displayed in a number of special museum exhibits and gallery shows including:
Thorsen's art has been used in television and movies: WKRP in Cincinnati; Wild Things (1998), directed by John McNaughton; City Confidential; C Span with Anderson Cooper, opening sequence.
Bigfork is a census-designated place (CDP) in Flathead County, Montana, United States. It is within Montana's Rocky Mountains. The population was 5,118 at the 2020 census, up from 4,270 in 2010.
Kalispell is a city in Montana and the county seat of Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at 24,558. In Montana's northwest region, it is the largest city and the commercial center of the Kalispell Micropolitan Statistical Area. The name Kalispell is a Salish word meaning "flat land above the lake".
Charles Marion Russell, also known as C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and "Kid" Russell, was an American artist of the American Old West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, and landscapes set in the western United States and in Alberta, Canada, in addition to bronze sculptures. He is known as "the cowboy artist" and was also a storyteller and author. He became an advocate for Native Americans in the west, supporting the bid by landless Chippewa to have a reservation established for them in Montana. In 1916, Congress passed legislation to create the Rocky Boy Reservation.
Henry Chalfant is an American photographer and videographer most notable for his work on graffiti, breakdance, and hip hop culture.
David Vincent Hayes was an American sculptor.
Tim Holmes is an American artist and sculptor based in Helena, Montana.
The Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in Sydney and Perth is Australia's largest annual outdoor sculpture exhibition. This exhibition was initiated in 1997, at Bondi Beach and it featured sculptures by both Australian and overseas artists. In 2005, a companion event was established at Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia featuring over 70 artists. In 2009 it was announced that Aarhus in Denmark would host the first Sculpture by the Sea exhibition outside of Australia.
Medallic Art Company, Ltd. based in Dayton, Nevada was at one time "America's oldest and largest private mint" and specialized in making academic awards, maces, medallions, along with chains of office and universities medals for schools. After going bankrupt in 2018, the American Numismatic Society purchased their significant archive of art medals, dies, die shells, plaster casts, galvanos, photographic archives, and other important cultural material. The Society has launched an initiative, the MACO Project, to identify and publish this material to make it available to researchers.
C. M. Russell Museum Complex is an art museum located in the city of Great Falls, Montana, in the United States. The museum's primary function is to display the artwork of Great Falls "cowboy artist" Charles Marion Russell, for whom the museum is named. The museum also displays illustrated letters by Russell, work materials used by him, and other items which help visitors understand the life and working habits of Russell. In addition, the museum displays original 19th, 20th, and 21st century art depicting the American Old West and the flora, fauna, and landscapes of the American West. In 2009, the Wall Street Journal called the institution "one of America's premier Western art museums." Located on the museum property is Russell's log cabin studio, as well as his two-story wood-frame home. The house and log cabin studio were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. In 1976, the listing boundaries were amended to account for moving the house.
Martin Eichinger is an American sculptor. Deemed one of the few 'Living Masters' by the Art Renewal Center, Eichinger is known for his bronze narrative sculptures that, as he puts it, "chronicle the eternal human pursuit of meaning, happiness, and growth." Eichinger has been sculpting for over 40 years and is represented by many elite galleries across the country. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon and is an active and influential figure in the Northwestern sculpting community.
Western Art Week is an annual visual arts festival held in the city of Great Falls, Montana, every March. The focus of the festival is Western art, and the festival is always held the same week as the March 19th birthday of noted Western artist Charles Marion Russell. Various events are held during Western Art Week, including the C.M. Russell Museum's "The Russell" art sale, the Western Heritage Artists Association Art Show, the Jay Contway and Friends Art Show, March in Montana, a Montana version of the Wild Bunch Art Show, and the Western Masters Art Show. The event draws bidders and artists from around the world, and the travel guide Frommer's has called it one of the finest Western auctions in the United States. Another source has said the event "is widely regarded as the nation's largest and finest auction of original western art of the 19th and 20th centuries."
Frederick Adolph Brinkman was an American architect based in Kalispell, Montana, and Brinkman and Lenon is a partnership in which he worked. More than a dozen of Brinkman's extant works in and around Kalispell have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Anderson Style Shop, Charles Boles House, Brice Apartments, City Water Department, Cornelius Hedges Elementary School, Russell School, Linderman School, the Montgomery Ward Store in Kalispell, and the O'Neil Print Shop.
Geoffrey C. Smith is an American bronze sculptor and photographer. He is a graduate of Montana State University, and currently resides in the coastal town of Stuart, Florida. His best-known work is that of the "Stuart Sailfish," an 18-foot monument situated in Downtown Stuart.
Daniel Ray Parker is an American wildlife sculptor and painter. Parker has won multiple awards for wildlife sculpture at major art shows in the United States. He is a resident of Kalispell, Montana.
Frank D. Hagel is an American realist and impressionist painter and sculptor. His artwork depicts Native Americans, trappers, and wildlife of the western American frontier.
Asa Lynn "Ace" Powell was an American painter, sculptor, and etcher of genre scenes and imagery relating to indians, cowboys, horses, and wildlife. His artwork was influenced by that of fellow Montana artist Charles M. Russell. Powell's lifetime body of work consists of between 12,000 and 15,000 artworks. Although he preferred working with oil paints, he also produced a large number of watercolor paintings and drawings, as well as a number of works in bronze, terracotta, and wood.
Lubomir Wojciech Tomaszewski was a Polish-American painter, sculptor and designer born in Warsaw, Poland. He lived in United States since 1966.
Earl Heikka was an American sculptor. He designed figurines and statues of the Old West, miners, and horses. He committed suicide at age 31.
Joseph L. Abbrescia was an American painter of the American West. By 2002, he had become "one of the country's most accomplished plein-air artists."
The Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, Montana, is an American art museum which focuses on preservation of art and history pertaining to Glacier National Park and the state of Montana.