Before the Wind by Matthew Foster of Maine. Granite, 2014
“I attempted to embody the spirit of the town in the local stone, with a naturalized form and flowing arcs, and an energy and vitality generated with the balancing mass.” – Matthew Foster
Bucksport
Artist Statement
I started by gathering stone from the woods of Calais where I found unique shapes and colors of granite. The stones I selected to use for Nexus had been drilled and split already. I carved only the interior of the stone, leaving the exterior of the stone in its historically drilled and split shape.
The design came from the form of the stone, working with its shape to create perceived interior motion. The open woven form represents relationships and connections. This sculpture was created to stand as a nexus for the community of Calais.
Artist Biography
Matthew Foster works as the sculpture technician for the Department of Art at the University of Maine. Matthew approaches each of his pieces as a type of self-portrait and reflection of personal experience. “The focus of my work is on the relationship between forms, repetition, and perceived motion. Our universe is in a constant state of entropy; ever expanding. Naturally in motion from order to chaos, a loss of information that is slowly coming to a stop, and will reverse back in upon itself, where it will start all over again.” In the summer of 2011 he worked directly with Hitoshi Tanaka, a Japanese stone sculptor to create Tanakas’ sculpture Window of the Sea Wind. In 2012, he worked with a number of artists, helping them complete their large scale sculptural work.