Stools, Sculpture and Objects by Alma Allen

Alma’s been a massive inspiration for both of us here recently, somehow he’s not featured on the site but today I’ve finally got round to putting together some nice imagery of his work and hopefully this small article will sum up what’s behind his pieces and how he creates these fantastic sculptures.

Alma was born in 1970 in Herber City, Utah where he began carving at an early age, he was particularly inspired after discovering Indian petroglyph drawings where he was attracted to the different shapes and visual forms of communication. After travelling and living all over the country he settled in New York in 1996 and exhibited his first set of sculptures on an antique ironing board in Soho, his work was soon collected by art and design luminaries. Moving onto 2000, he then relocated to California in search of his own raw material to use in his work, primarily wood and stone. Together with his childhood sweetheart Nancy Pearce they then opened up “Pearce”, a store which showcases Alma’s work on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice, which looks like an absolute treat and is a place you have to visit if you’re ever in LA.

Sculpture in itself is actually quite an interesting subject, there’s quite a fine line between what sculpture is and what it isn’t, some could even class furniture as sculpture. What I like about Alma’s work personally is the mix of the abstract items, particularly the quirky small scale sculptures, and the stools and bowls that are really functional. It’s great how he can take something like salvaged wood, which was probably going to be wasted anyway, and turn it into something which a human can cherish and use on a daily basis. The smaller scale sculptures are items that both me and Daniel were instantly fascinated by, Alma says they’re actually like sketches and it gives him the opportunity to try out a variety of forms on a lower level.

Alma and Nancy are now situated in the desert of Joshua Tree, California so they have room to work on larger scale projects as well as space to set up a bronze foundry. Alma actually built an environmentally friendly house and studio from scratch while they lived on the land in a trailer, quite a feat in itself and is very inspiring. As you can see I’ve collected a variety of bits and bobs from their webpage and also from the Totokaelo shop who happens to be a stockist of Alma’s work. Hopefully you enjoy the different forms, for more obviously make your way towards their website found through the link below. The small sculptures page would be my recommendation for your first port of call, even though they’re sadly all sold out. I really want to get my hands on some!

www.allenpearce.com

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