Edinburg, Texas
Dorothy Charles Clark Gallery
“Sentinels and Guardians,” an exhibition of bronze sculptures by Susan Fitzsimmons at the Clark Gallery of the University of Texas in Edinburg (where Fitzsimmons is a professor and chair of the art department), presented an engaging paradox. Bronze casting is a highly skilled as well as physically demanding discipline and requires careful planning. Traditionally, hot molten bronze is poured into a wax-filled mold, then packed in sand as it cools and solidifies. In the process, the wax is burned out, revealing the form. Fitzsimmons’s bronzes, however, are not planned; they are the almost accidental result of a number of castings (sometimes as many as six for a single piece). In place of the traditional wax, she uses cast-off materials such as cardboard. As the cardboard is burned out, the remaining bronze takes on an appearance of almost lace-like delicacy. …see the entire review in the print version of January/February’s Sculpture magazine.
