In the Studio with Donna Forma
August 7th, 2024
Multi-media sculptor, Donna Forma, virtually sat down with us to discuss her practice, inspiration, and unique choice of natural materials for her environmentally themed sculptures. Using an array of natural materials from reclaimed wood, to mica, to found fibers, Donna Forma’s sculptural works draw from natural imagery and organic shapes. Her pieces range in scale from table-top organic forms to large person-sized constructions which seem to cast the viewer as a participant in the makings of this new organic environment. Forma seeks to highlight the beauty of nature through her work and inspire viewers to appreciate, respect, and love nature and our environment.
CBCA: What artist(s) or movement(s) have influenced your work?
DF: Just before he died, architect Louis Kahn wrote a eulogy about another architect, Carlo Scarpa. These words are what I aspire to in my work – so I thought it would be very appropriate to share this:
‘Beauty’
the first sense
Art
the first word
then Wonder
Then the inner realization of ‘Form”
The sense of the wholeness of inseparable elements.
Design consults Nature
to give presence to the elements
A work of art makes manifest the wholeness of the ‘Form’
a symphony of the selected shapes of the elements.
In the elements
the joint inspires ornament, its celebration.
The detail is the adoration of Nature.
CBCA: What excites you to make your work? Why do you make art?
DF: I am an avid gardener, so I am always looking intimately at natural forms. I always think wherever one takes a step whether it is out your front door or down the street, in the garden right next to you will always be something in a small form that no one in the entire universe has ever seen. I find this very exciting.
CBCA: Why/How have you chosen your medium?
DF: My work is always evolving as natural forms do in the elements, as time goes by. So I hardly ever feel I’ve “completed” a piece – they can keep changing as influences affect me. Bob Dylan said it well: “…the winds of changes shift.” (Forever Young). My materials are natural or manmade – made to look natural. My pieces are often types of shelters, nests, hives – all metaphors of life not knowing if the protection is really safe or a threat – as is a wasp nest, bee hive, etc. Or they emphasize movement of evolving as once again everything does.
In the weaving process, threading or mashing, sawing, pounding, of materials I am the insect myself creating my form so that also explains why size becomes very important to me. It is my shelter, my hive, my evolution that represents yours as well, which parallels how we as a society shape the evolution of our environment. We all have a big part in the creation of what happens.
I love working and thinking not just about form but about the quality and excitement of texture and color. As a result, my materials are very varied as I love the experimentation – never really knowing if it will be successful but willing and excited about the possibilities. So I move from wood to copper to glue to mica to threads to handmade papers, horsehair, dog fur, roots, seaweed, etc.
Finally, my favorite materials are actually worked with the natural elements of rain, wind, snow, ice, pulling parts outside for periods of time to meld with nature. So in a sense not only am I working with her but “playing“ with her.
As an example, a piece entitled Algae Breast was made from string algae I harvested in my water garden. I work with the seaweed by washing it, pressing it, putting it in the sun to work the color subtleties. Then I made the nipple area, put it outside to weather for the winter, then brought it in and continued to work with its evolution – it became one of my favorite pieces.
Another two-part example: if I need a particularly shaped piece of wood, I’ll go into the woods to find it, it’s there, nature and I “play” together. Or, I’ll walk in the woods and find something that is fantastic and it inspires in me a direction, as in “My Inning.” It’s my inning because it’s my life – my time up at bat to shape the environment for those I love, not knowing if the protection will be safe or a threat.
So with Louis Kahn’s words that are so meaningful and totally resonates with me, nature and I “play” together.
CBCA: What are you trying to communicate with your art?
DF: Being that I am an environmentally conscious artist with an immense love and respect for nature, I love to work organically with organic forms. I always love to make works that help to uplift people and to increase one’s appreciation of the natural world around us. With that love comes the realization of the importance of its protection, respect, and awe of what surrounds us, leading us to the synergy of man and nature. This, in turn, can help to bring a peaceful mindset and an increased desire to live well with others taking emphasis off wrong hateful directions and towards greater health and happiness. The arts sends images of beauty as well as messages of importance.
Donna Forma
Donna Forma
Donna Forma
Donna Forma
Donna Forma
Donna Forma
