Position
Salvaged steel
2006, Dusty Folwarczny
Few sculptors have a relationship more personal to their elemental material than Dusty Folwarczny, who uses reclaimed scrap metal from her father’s steel products company in Windfield, Missouri. The seven, stacked steel rings in “Position” represent the artist’s family members—she’s the vertical center ring. The work explores the tension between heavy metal, gravity and balance and is part of a series of columns Folwarczny has created over several years.
Artist Statement
“Circles represent strength and mobility. The middle ring represents my position in my family and how that evolves over time. Part of my sculpting process includes looking at a scrap pile of steel as a puzzle to be solved. I appreciate steel’s natural ability to protect itself through oxidation, and I expose the raw aesthetic of rust in many of my pieces.”
Dusty Folwarnczny is an object maker working in large, abstract, steel forms. She designs, fabricates, transports and installs all of her work herself. She grew up on a large plat of land north of St. Louis, surrounded by a lake, hills and woods, providing an early connection with nature and organic forms. Her work can be found in parks and public, private and corporate collections around Chicago and the United States.
