Sculpture is arguably the most enduring manifestation of fine art that humans the world over have produced. The three-dimensional figures – like the tiny Paleolithic Age Venus of Willendorf from over 27,000 years ago, the regimental and uniform Chinese Terracotta Warriors from over 2,000 years ago, or Michelangelo’s larger-than-life David from over 500 years ago – have earned lasting admiration.
Cities commission public sculptors, too. Victoria touts the iconic Emily Carr bronze on the grounds of the Fairmont Empress Hotel at the corner of Government and Belleville Streets. And North Vancouver recently paid homage to the Cariboo gold rush camels by displaying a bronze rendition in October 2017. Sculpting is an honourable art form and BC’s Cathryn Jenkins is a respected member of their coterie.
A Rock-Solid Life
Cathryn grew up in the tight mountain community of Revelstoke with a close family, paying witness to the adage that it takes a village to raise a person. Playmates and townsfolk were extended family. From the extreme seasons of hot huckleberry summers and bountiful snowy winters, she learned to appreciate the beauty of nature and art.
“I think there are unique qualities in most families, and my family was no exception,” says Cathryn. “My father loved classical music and art collecting, good wine and food, politics and sports such as skiing, golf and tennis. My mother gathered rocks and would sculpt in her studio, which she does to this day. To prove that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I too became a sculptor and my brother a renowned trilobite hunter, who is considered an expert in the study of fossils.”
Cathryn’s mother was an excellent role model. “My mother became an artist at the age of 40; I was 15, at the time. She had been a prospector and rock collector until a friend, Bill Cameron, brought her a chunk of carving stone he had found while logging up the road towards Mica Dam.”
This was the beginning. Cathryn worked as her mother’s sculptor’s assistant for pocket money while attending school.
“I loved the feel of the tools and polishing of the stone and the seemingly magical way animals would appear from the stone. My mother, Fran Jenkins, influenced me more than anyone else as an artist. It was through my mom that I could see that both living life as an artist and making a living from it were possible. I watched as my mother created incredible sculpture from rocks that were previously just part of an embankment, then a pile in the backyard, and then a selected stone placed up on the work table. In my later teens, I fell in love with my mom’s studio. I could see that it was rewarding, and I could not only shape my own stone but shape my own life, too. I can’t say why this desire to work in stone should last for decades, if not a lifetime, but it has.”
Cathryn honed her skills, learning about the medium and practice necessary to create something that others could see beauty in. She also realized she wanted to know and feel her subjects inside and out to capture feeling as well as physicality. After a year at the University of Calgary, she attended the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) for Animal Studies.
“Looking back, I know the study of the bone and muscle structures helped me with my knowledge of the way an animal is put together,” she says. “I try to create the sense that a bear has straight bones and round muscles and a fur coat that looks like it has been tossed on from a few feet away and has landed just right over that inner structure. I believe my anatomy studies helped me a great deal.”
The Long View
Like many active middle-aged people, Cathryn believes in balance and the long view. The driven person doesn’t always have the most fulfilling life over time. Having just turned 60, she feels gratitude for what the world has offered her and the ability to be spontaneous about grabbing those very opportunities. For instance, she owned an art gallery from 1990-1994 in White Rock with the motto “Art Exclusive, People Inclusive.”
“I had some weighty established artists such as Norval Morriseau and Jack Shadbolt to ground the gallery as well as newcomers,” she explains. “The business end of it fell into place because I was just working as the bridge between the artists and the collectors. People were happy to add this pleasure to their lives.”
With the birth of her daughter, however, and since any good gallery is busy and service-oriented, she decided to sell up and be with her baby and work at her home/studio.
Always there were the responsibilities of raising two children as a single mom, but new aspects arise too and, more recently, she and her partner have taken to cycling on new horizons, namely Rajasthan, India. She looks forward to more of the same.
Art Takes Heart
Cathryn has many awards and accolades to affirm her and recognize her as an accomplished sculptor. Her works are found among a dozen corporate collections and in over two dozen group galleries and museum exhibitions from 1981 to the present. It is an impressive body of work enjoyed privately and publicly.
Perhaps her most cherished commendation came in 2013 when she was given the prestigious invitational Masters Signature membership to the American Women Artists organization, the only Canadian to be inducted. In the most recent exhibition with the AWA, at the Tucson Desert Museum, Arizona, she said with some pride, “I received my first award from the AWA. I would admit that my heart skipped a beat when I realized I had won the Natural History Award for my stone sculpture of an Eagle.”
Her animal subjects, mainly bear and eagle, are amazing. “Having grown up in a bear town, and within a studio of a woman who sculpted bears, it was natural for me. The sheer power and presence of a grizzly bear is an incredible thing to try to capture.”
The larger-than-life eponymous “Alberta Bear” commissioned by the University of Alberta was installed two years ago. As an exclusive and inclusive work, it is now a pet, climbed upon and photographed endlessly by the students.
“We also created 100 small bronze replicas of the piece that have been sold to raise funds to benefit the students in numerous ways.”
Taking Flight
“I love creating the birds, too,” says Cathryn. “The haphazard ruffled fur coats of the bears are the opposite creative concept to the sleek aerodynamic design of birds. It is beauty that I am trying to achieve. There are no hidden messages in my work. If one were sitting on a rock beside the water, and an eagle was to land a few feet to stare out at the water with you, then you might feel an immense sense of awe. There is nothing to think about or figure out the meaning of. It is just beauty.”
Mixed Media
For the first 30 years, Cathryn worked in serpentine rock and argillite. But in the last decade she has been experimenting more with mixed media and bronze, as well as the stone.
“I have found that if I give my body a rest from the heavy tools and mix the studio up a bit with some mosaic works, and clay projects (then cast into bronze), that I am able to work and produce more. I do not spend as much time in the studio as I did, say 20 years ago, but I am pacing myself for the long term,” she adds with a laugh.
One Creative Energy
Cathryn also talked about the distinction among her many works of art, sold, unsold and in progress.
“I tend to think of my pieces like a classroom of young kids, all going along and doing the best they can. I am completely aware that each of my works has its own appeal and unique quality but, to me, they are all one creative energy hopefully moving forward. One may be prettier, and one more powerful, but there is something in every piece. It’s a body of work that for me is not actually divided into individual works but is more like a choir than a series of individual voices.”
Cathryn expects to have more adventures over the next decade or so. “Who knows, I may create my best work. Life should surprise us sometimes in good ways. It is my life, and the future is up to me. Sure, I still have many responsibilities, but one must remember that life is a love story and that we only ever live in the moment.” She hopes everyone will be open to the joyful possibilities that exist at any age.
To see more of Cathryn Jenkins’ work, visit her website at www.jenkinssculptor.com.
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