It was love at first sight for a Windham resident and Windham High School substitute teacher Anne Alexander when she first saw the beauty of sculpture. From the time she was a junior in college, she knew sculpture was her thing. Teachers, seeing her talent and great potential, guided her along the way.
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| Windham sculptor Anne Alexander carves a shell design into a log piece for a sculpture she is working on at the Boothbay Railway Village. She hopes to have the sculpture completed this summer. COURTESY PHOTO |
“Being an artist is my main purpose in life,” says Alexander. “I am really looking at nature and trying to create things more realistically.”
She works in three mediums: wood, stone and clay.
“I love them all for different reasons. Clay is a much faster medium; I can make a lot of sculptures in a day,” she says. “With wood carving, I can only do it for so long because my arm gets tired. Clay is easier and wood takes longer with repetitive motions of hitting the mallet; clay is more of a relief. Stone also requires upper body strength. I work in alabaster, which is soft stone, and sometimes granite.”
Her sculptures vary in size and in the time that it takes her to complete them.
“Some sculptures take me years to finish; I put them aside and go back to them,” Alexander says.
On her website, she has a page where she shows her sculptures locally as well as in other states: https://annealexandersculptor.com/outdoor-site-sculpture/
While her clay sculptures tend to be on the smaller side, her wood and stone art can get much bigger.
“My wood pieces I create things as big as humans,” says Alexander. “I’m working on one right now that I started last summer at Boothbay Railway Village where I carve for the public every Tuesday in July through September. I am carving a big log, and the theme is shells. I started this project last summer and hope to finish it this year.”
Alexander says that she gets her inspiration from nature.
“I am always looking at nature around me,” says the sculptor. “I get out into nature just about every day; I either walk or paddle or ski.”
It is the smaller tiny parts of nature that Alexander enlarges and abstracts to create her forms. She said she is concerned with inspiring emotional or kinesthetic responses in the viewer. She also wishes to enhance one’s awareness of his/her body, size, and surrounding space as it relates to the natural world.
“I might look at a seed pod of a plant, a part of a flower, an acorn, a shell, or a little piece of seaweed,” she says.
She also sells much of her work at art fairs.
“At these fairs, I sell my affordable ceramics in a booth full of sculpture. Come say hello to me in person and see numerous pieces on display,” she said.
Her upcoming exhibits are at:
Art in the Park Bridgton, Saturday July 20 with a rain date of Sunday July 21
The Beach Club at Higgins Beach Friday and Saturday Aug. 2 and Aug. 3
Art in the Park, Mill Creek Park, South Portland, Saturday Aug. 10
Brunswick Outdoor Arts Festival, On the Grassy Mall, Brunswick, Aug. 17
Salt Pond Studio, Friendship, NYSCC Alfred University Alumni in Maine, Aug. 11 to Aug. 31
Casco Bay Artisans at The Library Park in Ocean Park, Maine, Thursday, Aug. 31
Parsonage Gallery, Searsport, Summer Group Show through Sept. 2
Her work can also be found on display at the Yarmouth Frame Gallery in Yarmouth and at the Hole in the Wall Studioworks in Raymond, as well as other art galleries in Maine.
“I also do open studios from time to time,” Alexander said.
Anyone interested can sign up for Alexander’s mailing list on her website at https://annealexandersculptor.com/. And you can also find Alexander on Facebook and Instagram under Anne Alexander Sculptor. <
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