Outdoor work by Ursula von Rydingsvard

Ursula von Rydingsvard had her first solo show in New York in 1975 after receiving her MFA from Columbia that same year. Her work can be found in the collections of the Met, MoMA, Nelson Atkins Museum, Bloomberg, Storm King, and the Walker Art Center. She is represented by Galerie Lelong in NYC where she currently has a show on view. After working with welded steel at Columbia, she found herself frustrated because that medium lacked a sensuality. Someone introduced her to cedar and she fell in love with the medium. Cedar turns silver when exposed to the outdoors; it is durable but is soft and can easily be cut. Since the mid-1970s she has only worked with cedar beams that she cuts and assembles by hand. Powdered graphite is rubbed into her works. “My love for wood is part of my history, ” she claims. She comes from Polish peasant farmers who were honest laborers and there is the persistence of memory in her work.

She goes to British Columbia to select her 2 x 4 or 4 x 4 inch cedar beams. Using this size of beam allows her to get a lot of detail in her work as she glues them together. There is so much complexity in her works it is amazing to learn that it is all done with a circular saw. Craftsmanship and process are fundamental to her work. She relies heavily on intuition when creating a piece. She pushes herself into places that are uncomfortable. And though we often deny and fight our history, she pays homage to it and embraces it.

Work at Bloomberg

Though she never does any preparatory drawings because she feels like it restricts her, she is meticulous about building models before she installs works and she always has an image in her head of what she wants to create. For the 88 foot long work that resides permanently in the Bloomberg building, she built an angled floor in her studio just like the one where it would ultimately be installed.

work from show at Galerie Lelong

She returns to domestic themes for subject matter and has been attracted to bowls her whole life; they feel very consequential to her.  She also creates works of spoons, plates and combs. Recently she has experimented with using the cedar beams in a non-horizontal manner creating a sense of movement and a “beast-like ” element in her works.

Bonnet work in Madison Square Park installation

In 2006 she had four works on view in Madison Square Park including a work made of polyurethane which was translucent and allowed her the opportunity to work in another medium other than cedar.

She is currently in the process of creating a work for Storm King Sculpture Park that has two thin prongs which reach down toward the earth. While the rest of the piece will be made of cedar, these two fragile and vulnerable prongs will be made of a sturdy bronze patinaed to look like wood. She claims it is the most vulnerable piece she has made to date.

She is an intelligent and interesting woman and it was fascinating to hear her talk about her work.