James Ziegler

Artist in Residence: December 2019 - September 2020

James Ziegler, Shimmering Willow, installed Fall 2020

Shimmering Willow, a 2020 addition to the Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre’s sculpture park collection, is a wondrously simple, or simple- seeming, ingenuity. Standing at 7 plus feet high, the brushed stainless-steel piece by James Ziegler is at once playful and serious, marvellous and efficient, surprising and obvious. When seen from a distance in the middle of 10 acres of rolling hill prairie, its polished finish makes it appear as a solid mechanical conch or as a tepee-like folding

cone. Only when one gets up close does a series of descending triangles cut from 3/16” stainless steel become apparent. They are gently curved like an inside-out umbrella, and bent backwards from the tip as angled shears that allow air to flow, making the sculpture move and shimmer with the wind and cast shadows over the landscape.

Ziegler's Shimmering Willow was commissioned by KOAC in December 2019 as part of the artist residency program, with support from the Peskisko Arts Fund at the Calgary Foundation, and funds from the Calgary Arts Development. Although the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted his 2020 Spring and Summer studio time, Ziegler finished his piece in late September. Part of his residency included conducting his Ziegler Tiny Art workshops with students and adults. Born of his explorations in the initial stages of developing Shimmering Willow, the workshops led participants to experience a hands-on transformation of paper patterns into 3D sculptures.

2020 INTERVIEW PDF COMING SOON

IN CONVERSATION: JAMES ZIEGLER TALKS ABOUT BEGINNINGS, INFLUENCES AND A NEW SCULPTURE AT KOAC

By Ricardo Castillo Argüello, November 21, 2020