David Willis
David Francis Willis
New Port Richey, Florida, United States
Sculpture
Explore the artistic vision and craftsmanship of David Willis
Nandi
Having returned from India and the many days and weeks of seeing and breathing the culture of that exotic country
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I Am A Beauty
The coral used in the creation of this sculpture was gathered from the beaches of the Ryukyu Islands of Japan in the South China Sea. Typhoon Moke tore the coral from its deep sea bed and deposited it on the sandy shore. My family and I gathered the coral after the storm.
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IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND In The Beginning
Original sculpture carved from Alabama Brown stone with hand held and power tools in my studio in Florida
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IN THEPALM OF YOUR HAND All Smiles
Original sculpture carved from white Alabama marble using hand tools and power tools. This artwork was created in my studio in Florida.
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IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND Winking White
Original sculpture carved from white Alabama marble using hand tools and power tools. This artwork was created in my studio in Florida.
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About the Artist
KEYWORDS;newspaper boy, tobacco fields, U S Marine Corps,singer, student, husband, father, sculptor, painter :ex-pat in Europe for 15 years while painting, sculpting, exhibiting;ex-pat in Asia for 15 years while creating art and exhibiting there as well: exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, with a solo exhibit of 50 coral sculptures: currently living, creating with acrylic paints on canvas, and sculpting in American marble from Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee at our home in Florida. We have found a place to live and work and enjoy it immensely. I have sculpted in the stones of Europe, gathered large shards from Carrara in Italy, colored boulders from the beaches of Sicily, marble bits and pieces from the Isle of Skye in Scotland, marble from near the Roman ruins in Morocco, gathered Horton Wood stone, made famous by Henry Moore, gathered coral from the beaches of the Ryukyu Islands in the South China Sea, and any other stones we could find fit to carve, all on our travels throughout the world. And now, I am an American, carving in American marble and happy to be doing so. I built a tea house and then converted it into a sculpting studio, and one of the first things we did when we arrived back in the U S after living abroad so long, was to buy literally tons of marble to work on BIG pieces which was not possible when we lived in tiny houses in the UK and tinier houses in Japan.Even the farmhouse we lived in in Germany wasn't a place for BIG. I immediately went to work on some one ton and larger marbles and have a dozen in the sculpture garden in front, obscured from the street by bamboo, and large, but not BIG in the back garden along with the larger coral pieces. I still buy marble by the ton but in smaller pieces now. They are no less fun to carve, they just fill a different need. My wifeof 50 years, Barbara, is my partner. I do the art and she does the internet. We are delighted to have joined ScuptSite and continue to create as it's so much fun. David Willis
Artist Statement
As a young man I had the opportunity to study the ancient Greek and Roman sculptures which were in the museums of Naples,Italy , where I was studying voice and opera . I was overwhelmed by the symmetry and beauty of the sculptures and their timelessness. It was as if they had been newly created, and not, as was often the case, dug up as buried treasure. The impact of those breathtaking beauties literally changed my life and at the age of 27 I made a career change and devoted myself to sculpting and painting. Marble was ubiquitous in the area and the workers in the marble yards gladly gave me shards and broken pieces with which to learn my craft. I found, above all, that the sculptor must preserve the integrity of the stone, and work with its natural contours and idiosyncracies, rather than try to impose a form incompatible with its nature. Simplicity of line and wearing away , as much as possible, being aware that the cuts must often be dramatic and forceful, has been my motif' since the beginning of my sculpting life. I continue to carve in coral and marble with those early lessons in mind. The stone and I work in unison to create pieces of beauty. I would be remiss in not mentioning the many sculptors whom I studied and whose work I revere. The prehistoric cave artists come first, (I was fortunate to be able to purchase replicas of the Venus of Lespugue and the Venus of Willendorf when I first visited the caves in France), the ancient Greeks and Romans next ,Michelangelo, Gaudier-Brzeska, Brancusi,Henry Moore, and a host of others followed . We sculptors are fortunate to have had these examples of such strong and creative artists .