Henry Watts Sculpture/Installation

Artist Interview

A recording of the interview will be posted here in the coming weeks.

Artist Statement

I find that old growth forests are the places where I feel most spiritual, most connected to something greater than myself. It is my goal as an artist to try and capture this feeling, to hang on to it as we seem to be accelerating towards a world in which it no longer exists. I can’t package or ship this feeling so I build monumental sculptures from post consumer materials as a way to turn some of the materials contributing to its demise into an object which channels it.

One of the most beautiful things about an old growth forest, as opposed to a commercially planted one, are the trees in varying states of growth and decay. Young saplings grow on ancient decomposing nurse logs. I like to think that the forest would be pleased to see a new tree being born from cardboard, material removed from a forest never to rejoin this cycle. Material connection is important to me as a sculptor, with each material choice I tried to create a tangible connection between concept and form. The materials are all industrial or post-consumer, yet from afar they melt together and form an organic and natural form.

The piece exists as a hollow and holy space, like a relic it channels the power of its materials. Inside it mirrors the holy spaces of our past and present with rings of reflective inscriptions handing down wisdom from the heavens of the canopy.

“I like to think that the forest would be pleased to see a new tree being born from cardboard, material removed from a forest never to rejoin this cycle.”