Biography

Sculptor - Carver - Props Carpenter

BIO Lou Fuchs
Sculptor/Carver, Props Carpenter

After twenty years in the software and engineering field, I decided to follow a dream and become a sculptor. I realized I had a love for working with my hands. My creative woodworking passion drew me towards woodcarving but soon realized that the physical carving aspect was just a fraction of the skills necessary to produce true representational sculpture.

With material now being a secondary concern, I decided to focus on skills required to create sculptural works by attending the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, CT, where I received my BFA in figurative sculpture. I also spent three summers learning traditional European woodcarving in Austria.

My sculptural emphasis has been within the traditional human figure, but I find myself drawn into the animal world ... perhaps both can co-exist within my work.

As an emerging artist, I am pursuing my sculpture subject matter in multiple directions. My engineering, carving, and sculptural skills have merged together allowing me to pursue sculpture on a larger scale, in both wood and foam.

Another major direction for my work involves relief sculpture in cast paper. Continuing my love of the figurative and representational subject matter, I find relief sculpture a wonderful combination of drawing and sculpture. Using paper as the foundation of the sculpture, the "drawing" comes to life without the use of a single pencil mark.

In addition to producing on my own sculpture, I am the props carpenter at Goodspeed Musicals (Goodspeed Opera House) in East Haddam, CT where I create all styles of props for our six musicals we offer yearly in our two theatres. For each show I generally create detailed construction plans for props using the scenic designer&aposs scale drawings, scale models, and "paper-napkin" drawings. I then combine my engineering, woodworking, welding, and artistic skills to construct the props for the upcoming show.