Robert Rickard’s work is incredibly vivid and yet very natural. The colors are reminiscent of the sunsets which he sees reflected in the water outside his studio in a 90 year old lakefront cottage. It is in that studio that Rickard creates memorable pieces which harness the myriad properties of metals: their rigidity, their pliability, and their essential chemical make-up.
His is a scientific approach. After cutting his designs into the base metal, each sculpture is then coated with other metals; typically copper, bronze, and iron. Each of these metals reacts differently to the chemical patinas and dye oxides with which the pieces are finished, creating a rich palette of hues. He works meticulously, always learning and educating himself about new materials and finishes.
Rickard has worked with his hands ever since he was a child growing up on the slopes of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains and in the San Francisco Bay area in the 50’s and 60’s. A great part of his present day success is his architectural sensibility of negative space, proportion and balance, mixed with a deep understanding of quality craftsmanship learned working in the Theatre during and after college, creating everything from a cherry tree that nightly shed its leaves to an intricate Victorian drawing room or an entire Shakespearean forest replete with twinkling lights.
A young Rickard became enamored with the way his set designs transported the viewer to another dimension. This experience is what gives him such insight when preparing collaborative commissioned installations and makes his work unique.
Rickard is an honored Niche Awards Winner and is a juried participant in several exclusive shows. “I have been deeply humbled and grateful for the way that I have been welcomed into galleries and collectors homes,” says Rickard.
Education
- 2016 Studied painting with English painter John Alexander Parks.
- 2009 Studied metal fabrication with studio furniture maker Vivian Beer.
- 2004 Studied patinas and metal finishing with sculptor Ron Young.
Selected Exhibitions
- 2015 Celebration of American Crafts — Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, Connecticut
- 2014 25th Anniversary Show — Good Goods, Saugatuck, Michigan
- 2013 Celebration of American Crafts — Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, Connecticut
- 2012 Lake Time — Good Goods, Saugatuck, Michigan
- 2010 Outdoor Furniture: Everyone is Welcome — Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- 2010 Contemporary Metal — Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, Millville, New Jersey
- 2009 Art Extravaganza — Governor’s Pointe, Suffolk, Virginia
- 2007 Form in Motion — Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, Millville, New Jersey
- 2007 Holidazzle — Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, Kentucky
- 2005 From Cuckoo to Carillon — Kentucky Museum of Arts + Design, Louisville, Kentucky
- 2004 Seventh Annual Craft Concepts — Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, New Jersey
- 2004 Time Flies, So Let’s Have Fun! — Grovewood Gallery, Asheville, North Carolina
Selected Commissions
- 2016 Baystate Franklin Medical Center, Greenfield, Massachusetts
- 2013 The Better Business Bureau, West Allis, Wisconsin
- 2012 Essentia Health St. Joseph’s-Brainerd Clinic, Brainerd, Minnesota
- 2011 The Walt Disney Company, Disney Fantasy Cruise Ship
- 2010 Resource Capital Group, Denver, Colorado
- 2010 RLI Corporation, Peoria, Illinois
- 2010 The Walt Disney Company, Disney Dream Cruise Ships
- 2009 Vdara Hotel & Spa, Las Vegas, Nevada
- 2009 Bellagio Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
Awards
- 2010 NICHE Award — Studio Furniture and Outdoor Installations
- 2009 Taos Invitational Art Show, 1st Place in 2D mixed media
Professional Affiliations
- 2008 — Present Board Member, CRAFT (Craft Retailers and Artists for Tomorrow)