For our spring/summer 2011 photo shoot, J SHOES had the privilege of working with David Hess, a Baltimore-based sculptor renowned for his large installation pieces displayed proudly at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Baltimore Washington International Airport, and the American Visionary Art Museum.  

 

Along with his sculpture, Hess’ property, featuring a house he designed and built himself, was the perfect location for the bench-made crafted aesthetic of the J SHOES design.  Hess’ studio, a refurbished barn, features huge double doors that frame the intense chemistry in our couple story.  His freestanding sculpture of a sphere fashioned out of copper cable was an intriguing prop and beautifully entwined the shoes and models alike.  As a fellow artisan, Hess was kind enough to share his creative process as a modern-day craftsman.

 

Let’s start at the beginning.  You graduated from Dartmouth with a concentration in visual arts.  Did your interest in art begin in or out of the classroom?  How did you figure out that sculpture was the way you wanted to express your creativity?
 
Although I was interested in art in high school, I actually enrolled as a pre-med student at Dartmouth College.  However, the liberal arts education encouraged me to take a trip to Florence for an art history course.  In Florence, I would walk around a corner and see a sculpture that had been there for hundreds of years and had been seen and enjoyed by millions of people.  It was a pivotal experience. 

 

When I returned to Dartmouth, I studied under wood sculptor Fumio Yoshimura and then researched Japanese gardens abroad in Kyoto.  After graduation, I worked with Paul Daniel and Linda DePalma, Baltimore artists concentrating on outdoor sculpture, before starting my own studio. 

 

You’ve said in previous interviews that you’re “interested in a collision between industry and agriculture”.  How does this interest translate in your work? 
 
I’m still interested and exploring this collision.  It’s this fascination with how tools and people impact their environment.  Even more so, it is about the environment and how a tool is made to fulfill a task in that space.  As a result, a certain aesthetic is born.  The tools are utilitarian but they have been designed and perfected.  And sometimes, the design can be beautiful, ironic, and even humorous.  (In Baltimore? David recommends the Baltimore Museum of Art and the MICA Fox building exhibit for great pieces that explore this dynamic.  And it’s free!)

Currently in the works for Hess is an installation piece for Washington Canal Park in D.C. and a special collaboration with J SHOES. 

 

Like what you see? If you’re interested in working on a project with Hess, check out his website at www.davidhess.net.