Today we’d like to introduce you to Dennis Sohocki.
Dennis, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My older brother, Ken, and I grew up in Cleveland during the 1950’s. My Dad was a tool and die maker, and my Mom a housewife. Ken went on to become Chief Engineer at General Motors while my life took quite a different path. Neither of my parents graduated from high school, but they believed in education and respected nature. My brother and I both got master’s degrees, his in the fields of engineering and computer science, and mine in the field of environmental economics. I never studied art, but I was deeply inspired by my Mom’s wonderful father, David Ivor Walters, who created beautiful drawings in pastels and colored pencils and who had been a monumental stone carver in a cemetery in his youth. My Mom also had a beautiful singing voice and her younger brother was a talented painter. None of the talented people of my family made any money from their artwork, but who they were, and the joy they showed us as children, was inspirational.
My career as a sculptor began in the 1970’s after college when I hitchhiked to Alaska and ended up living in a small one-room cabin outside Fairbanks. I worked with the Athabascan Indians, specifically visiting the villages in their native regional corporation area called Doyon — the largest in the state and bigger than Texas. I travelled by bush plane to their remote villages to write small grants for things they needed. I also helped with training the tribal leaders on how to manage their resources under the Native Claims Settlement Act. I gained a great respect for the Alaskan natives and all they created.
It was in Alaska that I was truly inspired by the work of the Athabascan Indians and Eskimos. They captured the essence of things in their artwork, rather than trying to copy or duplicate them. I began at the most basic level of hand-carving wooden kitchen utensils and walking sticks. From there, I graduated to small, simple stone carvings. While my background from the polluted, industrial city of Cleveland, where I’d worked in auto factories and chemical plants to pay for school, was very different than the setting and the culture of the Native Alaskans, I felt that my experiences and challenges could also be captured in essential ways.
I continued to teach myself carving and woodworking until several years later when I began working with my first gallery. I eventually went on to show in galleries across the country.
After about my first eight years of sculpting stone and wood, I made a sculpture entitled “Walking Woman” that cried out to be cast in metal. I cast her in mirror-finished stainless steel, which was a very challenging starting point because of the extreme hardness of stainless steel. Subsequently, I’ve cast much of my work in bronze in varying sizes up to 16 feet tall.
My most recent monument entitled “The Space Between Us,” at a height of 7 feet, was installed this Fall in Berkeley, California. I have had the pleasure of winning the prestigious National Academy of Design Lindsey Morris Memorial Award in New York City, NY, for my “Torso” sculpture. Denver’s Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art features one of my bronze sculptures entitled “Harmony.” Some of my monuments in Colorado are currently placed in Littleton, Boulder, Vail, Grand Junction, Greeley, and Loveland. Other of my larger sculptures are scattered across the U.S. and in various countries across the globe.
I designed and created fine art trophies for the World Cup Alpine Ski Championships in Vail, CO. I named the trophy “The Edge” and it was presented to the top six racers for each of the ten World Championship events. I also designed and created the fine art sculptures presented to the winners of the Winter Guard International Performance competition. 5280 Magazine selected me as Reader’s Choice Top Artist in their Top of the Town edition, and I am featured in the Sculpture of the Rockies book from the editors of Southwest Art.
My wife and I currently split our time between Colorado and Sedona, Arizona, where we spend much of our time hiking and enjoying wildlife, the wilderness, and going to ancient ruins.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has definitely, at times, been a challenging road, becoming a professional sculptor without a trust fund and given that my last art class was probably in Junior High School (and I think I got a “C” in it). When I had a flash of awareness that I was going to become a sculptor, that awareness was immediately followed by the fact that there would not be an ad in the newspaper saying “Wanted, Sculptor” — that I had to just declare myself an artist and do whatever work it took to become one. I’ve always believed in the comedian George Burns’ philosophy that “if you keep acting long enough, eventually they build a theater around you.” I kept carving and carving and carving.
I have always created new and different works and never pandered to the commercial art market. I have been determined to make only what I, as an artist, want to make — not based upon market or sales demands. Being a fine artist who chooses to make largely abstract and non-objective forms versus the more-popular cowboys & Indians, wildlife, beautiful women, or cute kids, has made my road steeper yet more interesting.
During the first half of my career, I also did part-time environmental work since my greatest love has always been wilderness and nature. This, too, was a tough road to follow; working against corporate and bureaucratic interests to do the right thing. My artistic and environmental side are very complementary since often my artwork has been inspired by nature and my adventures. Likewise, my environmental successes have usually involved in creative strategies.
Genetically, I think my work and any success I have achieved are a combination of the artistic inspiration of my Mom’s side of the family, combined with the precision and practical side of my Dad. Other people inspirational to me have been my friends — Dianne and Dale, Mike and Erin, Miquette, Rebecca, and Reed and Megan — because of their dedication and contributions to environmental and social causes.
My determination and openness were partially forged by my adventures around the world for several years with almost no money. For example, I once hitchhiked alone from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Guatemala and then spent months there and in Mexico backpacking and camping. I met Indigenous Native tribes in the Chiapas region, as well as Tarahumara’s in Copper Canyon. They are all incredible people and cultures who display so much strength, beauty and humility.
Other examples of my adventures that have inspired me include touring alone by bicycle for two months throughout Europe, camping every night and eating only out of markets and leasing horses and riding with a friend through the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness for six weeks on our own. Music and dance, which I admire but have no talent for, are important influences, too, as well as wilderness and the essences of relationships.
The experiences and the challenges I encountered helped strengthen me and have broadened my world in many ways that I do not fully understand. At times, I have said I am selling my psychological detritus, which comes from my subconscious and magically appears in my work in ways that I may not fully understand.
Carving, as well as casting in bronze, is an incredibly slow and difficult process. People ask me “how do you develop the patience you need for carving stone?” I tell them you either develop patience or you quit. There is no middle ground. I think my years of travel, years of studying martial arts, and years of overcoming several personal, deep losses, combined with my love of the creative process and my determination, helped give me that patience.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
I make contemporary sculptures in stone, bronze, and occasionally wood that are abstract or non-objective, from tabletop to monumental sizes. I consider my work classic modernism in the vein of Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Alexander Calder. My sculptures are in private and public collections throughout the U.S. and in various other countries. Occasionally, I have done some teaching in Havana, Cuba and Cairo, Egypt. I am known for making unique pieces that, regardless of the material, capture a feeling, a motion, or a desire in ways that touch different people in different ways. I take pride in creating superior-quality sculptures with careful attention to detail and, especially with commissions, completing my work in a timely and professional manner.
The reason I use marble and hardwoods for my originals is because I can hold all the planes and lines perfectly true in a hard material. Granted, it is more difficult to work with hard materials versus clay, but they allow me to create forms that are a pleasure to touch, as well as to view. One kind art critic said of my work, “A Sohocki abstraction is a poem in stone or bronze, opening up the senses, setting off memories and associations, and suggesting more than it states.”
As I mentioned earlier, I used to show my work in galleries from coast-to-coast. While somewhat rewarding, it’s also very challenging to work with numerous galleries. Now that I am older, I largely confine my sales to private or public commissions, collectors, and the annual Sculpture in the Park Show in Loveland, Colorado.
I am particularly proud of my 36 years of involvement with the Loveland Sculpture in the Park show. I have never missed a year of being in this show. It has grown from a small town sculpture show to become the largest and most important sculpture show in the United States, selling well over $1 million every year. What I love most about the show is that it was created to fund the purchase of monumental sculptures each year which are placed in Loveland’s Benson Park and throughout the city. They now have an amazing, large, and diverse sculpture collection that attracts people from all over the world to Loveland throughout the year. The show has maintained its small-town friendliness and openness and loves nothing better than spreading the enjoyment and appreciation of fine art. Held each year, always on the second weekend of August, it is a great place to take kids and family members. They can see endless varieties and styles of sculpture, as well as meet and talk with the artists.
Every year at the Sculpture in the Park show in Loveland, I mentor several artists that are new to the show. This has allowed me the privilege of meeting a number of younger and very talented sculptors such as Joshua Pass and Corey Silverman. Also, getting to know my collectors, learning their stories, and hearing how much they enjoy my work is very gratifying.
I am proudest that, in spite of the challenges, I have always remained true to my original vision of making only the artwork that I wanted to make. By constantly challenging myself, it makes the result and the journey a lot more fun, and I love that I get paid to make dust! (My wife might disagree, however).
I am very grateful for all of the help and encouragement kindly given to me through all of these years by my wife Dena, my brother Ken, and each of my dear friends. I only wish some of my greatest inspirational family members had lived to see what I have been fortunate enough to create.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
To me, success is living your own life, following your own vision and, in spite of the obstacles, doing what it takes to fulfill that dream. Success is truly not about money or possessions (although I recommend avoiding poverty at all costs). Success is about the stories, adventures, relationships, and experiences in our lives.
Life is ephemeral. Life has many trials, as well as joys. Success to me is trying to do the right thing, trying to honor and protect our world, and trying to create things that move us toward beauty and grace.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://sohocki.blogspot.com/
- Phone: 303-777-2028
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