Jeffrey Lloyd Dever

Statement

"From the early days of my childhood in central Massachusetts, the hills and orchards, streams and woodlands of our small town infused my aesthetics with a visual vocabulary of color, pattern, texture, and form. All my work, whether jewelry, baskets, or vessels are sculptural studies and an homage to that natural wonderland of my youth. I see my artistic journey as a dialogue, a never–ending conversation with my creator. Each piece is born through a series of sketches that mature into sculptural forms or appendages through numerous repeated cycles of fabrication, layering, and oven curing. An individual piece can easily go through dozens of such cycles and take weeks or months to complete. While the work is laborious and often tedious, at times the process is almost contemplative. When I finally finish a piece I need to sit with it awhile – to be still, to observe and absorb it – that"s often when the final title reveals itself. For now the conversation is complete, but the dialogue continues."

Jeffrey's work is in numerous public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Racine Arts Museum in Wisconsin.