Photo by Todd Bennington - "Copper River Fish" by Robert Fermanis currently on display at the Pacific Fine Art Studio. Right, Fermanis discusses his portfolio of past work.
Creations by Robert Fermanis now on display at Raymond gallery
With the recent opening of Pacific Fine Art Studio and Gallery in Raymond, local sculptor Robert Fermanis, who already has a few pieces on display there, has taken a renewed interest in his own work.
Originally from Pittsburg, Fermanis took formal training at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and later the Art Institute of Chicago. His first love was architecture, which later evolved into an interest in sculpture. He moved to the Raymond area from Bainbridge Island about four years ago.
Much of Fermanis' past work has been landscape or garden sculpture, much of it in steel, and most of his larger pieces are intended for outside display. He now works out of his basement, however, and is unable to do heavy welding.
"I've gotten into copper because I can work with copper on a smaller scale with what tools I have," he explained to the Herald.
Past work by Fermanis has taken among its subject matter herons, dinosaurs, and a memorial to a friend's dog. Recurrent motifs include fish, sheep, and serial numbers.
Fermanis recalled trips to the beach to sketch dead and dying salmon returned to spawn, and he's taken inspiration from everything from sheep spray painted for identification purposes by Welsh ranchers to Amish buggies and what they suggest about modernity.
Most of his work doesn't constitute political or social commentary, Fermanis stated. Still, his concerns include human interference with the natural environment and protest against the Iraq War.
Elements of found art, as well as simple pragmatism, are incorporated in Fermanis' work, and he has sourced some of his materials from junkyards, scrap heaps, and from a roofer friend. Volkswagen cylinder heads appear as the mid-sections of fish and shovel parts make up the jaws of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Asked why one particular piece features sheep pulling a buggy, he answered with a laugh, "They're easier to make than horses."
In regard to his influences, Fermanis cited Swedish sculptor Clay Zollenberg, known for his large civic sculptures. He mentioned Zollenberg's "Batcolumn," which forms part of the Chicago cityscape and is suggestive of the Windy City's power politics, he stated.
Fermanis said he has shown in galleries on Bainbridge Island and in Bellingham but hasn't found much success in past efforts trying to market his work online.
The pieces displayed at Pacific Fine Art Studio are the first time he has exhibited locally.
"You don't make any money at art," he confessed. "But I would like to see the gallery go, whatever it takes."
"We need something to bring them into town," Fermanis said of tourists and new businesses. "And I'm not saying the art gallery will do it, ... [but] this was a vital town at one time."
Fermanis said he intends to do several pieces for the gallery, reiterating that he hasn't done much in the way of art for a while and is now feeling reinvigorated.
"There's a lot of sculptors and artists out there but not a lot of good ones, and I don't know that I am, but I like doing it. People like it. It moves me," he concluded of his work.