Artwork copyright Mark Fessler. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Mark Fessler. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Mark Fessler. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Ribbed Shuttle, 1997

Mark Fessler
American (born 1951)

Location: South Whidbey High School, Langley

About the Artwork

Ribbed Shuttle is a mixed media sculpture created by artist Mark Fessler. He constructed the form using recycled and found materials. The found the wooden form at an Iron Foundry in Eastern Washington. Bronze pieces are repurposed conduit straps. Pieces of mahogany are scraps from Gibson's Les Paul Factory. The Georgia Boot Factory discarded the leather. He exhibited this piece at the Lead Gallery in Seattle in 1997. His sculptures in this exhibit focused on themes of passage and transformation. In Greek Mythology, Charon is the ferryman who caries souls over the river Styx to Hades, the underworld. This myth inspired the boat-shaped form in Ribbed Shuttle.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with South Whidbey School District.

About the Artist

Mark Fessler creates sculptures from a variety of materials. He began carving wood with his grandfather. He taught himself to carve stone and cast metals. He is based on Whidbey Island, Northwestern Washington.
Fessler received a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from Southern Illinois University. He has taught at the University of Tennessee, Portland School of Art in Portland, Maine, and at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. He has co-founded the artist-run gallery spaces Project Space in Eugene, Oregon and 200 East in Knoxville, Tennessee.