After many years as a scriptwriter and director, I began channeling my creative energies into my love of sculpture. In doing so, I drew from my own subconscious and my interest in the worlds of archetypes, myths, and rituals to create both abstract and figurative pieces. My figurative sculptures are not based on models, photographs, or actual persons. Instead, like my abstract work, they arise from memory, imagination, my inner world, and a spontaneous interaction with a variety of materials.
My primary materials are terra cotta and cement, although I frequently employ wood and various metals as well. The forms created from these materials are typically covered with a rich textual surface that is often aged or distressed to convey an emotion and a connection that transcend time and culture to bring artist and viewer into a shared inner space.
My work has been described as elegant, yet also earthy and powerful. It is imbued with a mythic, numinous, and archetypal awareness that comes directly from my process of creation. My psychological and emotional state while I'm working are also strongly reflected in the sculptures. Some express a calm, almost beatific sensibility. Others display extreme disturbance and anguish. Generally, it is only upon completion of an individual sculpture, or often a series of sculptures, that I'm able to tease out the meaning and significance for me personally.
However, regardless of the emotional impact, I seek a connection with the viewer. Whether figurative or abstract, my ultimate goal is to have the viewer feel a sense of familiarity with the work...a sense of knowing, of understanding. I believe this feeling of déjà vu arises from both a collective unconscious and a mystical center we all share.
B.A., UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
M.F.A., Stanford University, Stanford, CA
I have always loved the process of creation and have expressed this in a variety of ways. I've been a fine art photographer with shows in New York, Boston, and other East Coast cities. I've been a cabinet maker, a stained-glass artisan, a writer, and a potter. However, for most of the past thirty years, my career focus has been as a script writer and director of film and video. During this time, I received over fifty national and international awards for my work. These include: awards from the New York International Film Festival; the Chicago International Film Festival; the Houston International Film Festival; and the US International Film Festival. In addition, I received several honors including a Louis B. Mayer Fellowship; a Stanford Fellowship; and selection into the Library of Congress CINE Collection.
In 2006, I began actively pursuing a long held fascination with sculpture. Since then, I've devoted more and more of my time creating three dimensional art. As a novice sculptor, many of my early pieces ended up in the slag heap of creation, as I refined both my sensibilities and my mastery of the many processes involved in creating sculpture. However, after a year or so, my sculptures began finding a way into my home and yard; and into the homes of friends. By 2010 I felt that my work was ready for public exposure. In my first year of exhibiting, my work appeared in several shows throughout California including: "Made in California," "Art Outside the Box," and the "California Open Exhibition."
At this point in my life, my career as a writer and director has given way to an encore career as a sculptor.
"Your landscape sculptures are both beautiful and mysterious, delicate yet powerful, as is nature itself."
Nina Lyons, sculptor
"I love your sculptures and also the way you use patinas. You, indeed, have your own power and style."
Elizabeth Romhild, sculptor
"I hold great admiration for your skill and vision... beautiful, beautiful work!"
Kathleen Brennan
"Woodard's work is incredibly evocative and has an otherworldliness to it, yet feels familiar, like seeing a beautiful mountain for the first time and feeling one with it."
Mark Hess, artist
"Very strong work. Very powerful...I like the depth in your work."
Ken Omom, curator, Saatchionline
"I am most impressed with your work."
Anna Chromy, sculptor
"Your work has such strength and presence!"
Rachel Kingston, sculptor
"Your figurative work is very powerful."
Micha von Doring, art consultant
"The figurative work is powerful with each piece defining a different emotion.
Mark Chatterly, sculptor
2013
• "America's Clayfest" Blue Line Arts Gallery, Roseville, CA
Juror: Richard Shaw, internationally recognized ceramic sculptor
2012
• "Contemporary Sculptors: 84 International Artists" Danijela Kracun, Charles McFadden, editors; Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
• 2nd 2012 International Showcase Winner; ArtSlant.com
Jurors: Lesley Heller, Director Lesley Heller Gallery, NY, NY
Dominick Lombardi, Director of Exhibitions, Mana Contemporary Gallery, Jersey City, NJ
Katarina Sjogren, Co-Director, Crystal Contemporary Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
• 3rd 2012 International Showcase Winner; ArtSlant.com
Jurors: John Leo, Director, Lambert Fine Arts, NY, NY
Eileen Braziel, Curator/Art Advisor, Eileen Braziel Art Advisory
Sandra Q. Firmin, Curator, University of Buffalo Art Galleries, Buffalo, NY
• 4th International Showcase Winner; ArtSlant.com
Jurors: Clyde Beswick and Jason Chang, Co-Directors, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Monica Salazar, Co-Founder, Berlin Art Link, Berlin, Germany
Sloan Schaffer, Director, 101/exhibit Gallery, Miami, FL
2011
• "SVOS Invitational" Pacific Art League; Palo Alto, CA
• "Silicon Valley Open Studios" Great American Gallery; Palo Alto, CA
• Featured Artist; UtopicStudios.com
• 2011 International Showcase Winner; ArtSlant.com
Jurors: Ana Finel Honigman, Berlin-based critic, writer and curator
Jodie Dinapoli, New York curator
Sloan Schaffer, director of 101/Exhibit Gallery, Miami, FL
• "Spring Exhibition" Skyline Gallery; San Bruno, CA
• "Figurative Works" LH Horton Gallery; Stockton, CA
Jurors: Jan Marlese, Gallery Director
DeWitt Cheng, SF based Art Critic, writer, and curator
• "Scapes: Land, Sea & City" Pacific Art League; Palo Alto, CA
Juror: Maria Medua, Director, SF Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010
• "Made in California" Brea Art Gallery; Brea, CA
Juror: Grace Kook-Anderson, Curator, Laguna Art Museum
• "Silicon Valley Open Studios" Redwood City, CA
• "California Open Exhibition" Long Beach Arts; Long Beach, CA
Juror: Grace Kook-Anderson, Curator, Laguna Art Museum
• "Art Outside the Box" Pacific Art League; Palo Alto, CA
Juror: Susan O'Malley, Curator, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
• "Figures and Faces" Pacific Art League; Palo Alto, CA
Juror: René Guzman, Senior Curator, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
• "San Francisco Open Studios" San Francisco, CA
