Moving, dancing, fluid forms in bronze....   his work embraces human potential. Sculptor Andrew DeVries creates with the fire of his vision, the fire of his furnace and the fire of his immense determination.

Leaving school at age 15, DeVries knew he would be an artist. Between chores on his family’s dairy farm south of Rochester, NY he sketched and painted, often copying master works from his growing collection of art books.

Leaving the farm in 1977 to travel the U.S, DeVries settled in Denver. He pulled toward him the opportunities that have been the foundation of his work. For two years he sketched in a ballet studio, observing every nuance of movement. He related to the dancers and the strength of their physical and mental will. It was in Denver that he first held clay in his hands. It was an epiphany!

DeVries’ self-styled training took on even more focus. He knew that for economic and artistic reasons he needed to master the craft of mold making and bronze foundry. For the next four years while he sculpted, he learned mold making and apprenticed in two different foundries.

DeVries toured Europe in 1984, drawing in museums and piazzas. He engaged in the only formal training of his career, studying six months in a small Parisian beaux arts academy.

In 1989 DeVries created his first large public commission, a 9’ bronze dancer for the Hebrew Home and Hospital in West Hartford. Two years later the National Sculpture Society awarded him the prestigious Walter and Michael Lantz Prize. In 1994 St. Mary’s Church in Portland, CT selected DeVries to sculpt a 5’ bronze Madonna as well as their tabernacle. The same year the National Sculpture Society honored DeVries’ work by choosing his sculpture The Chariot for their first exhibition in Italy. By 1996 collectors from outside the US began traveling to his studios and taking his sculptures back to their home countries, including: Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Korea and Portugal.

Today DeVries’ work still maintains the fluid line and sense of form developed years ago in the ballet studio. His sculptures start as a vision -- a completed work in his minds’ eye. This leads to a quick sketch on paper and it may be several years before the work will begin. Unlike most sculptors he is totally involved in the bronze process as each work is brought to life by the heat of the furnace.

The burgeoning success of DeVries’ sculptures keeps his studios bustling. In addition to creating new works each year, he undertakes a few select private commissions. Seeing the work of this artist and his creative environment is a special experience for those traveling in the Berkshires.

You are welcome to visit our studios or join us at our up-coming events.

The DeVries Farm, Rochester, NY

Rieke Maria Love, Denver, CO

Paris



Dance of Morning

Chariot