GENE KANGAS ArtWork

GENE KANGAS has been an artist his entire life. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture and taught art at the university level for thirty-two years. He retired in 1998 as a Professor Emeritus from that profession. Gene gained public recognition via many commissions to design, build, and install large-scale site specific metal sculptures beginning in the late 1970s. He concentrated in this medium for over two decades.

While researching examples of nineteenth century American treenware in 1996, a renewed interest and appreciation for lathe turning as an art form began. Gene's artistic focus evolved into narratives in WOOD using a lathe. Sculptures which once portrayed figural steel profiles evolved into wood portraits cut in reverse.

Gene's current explorations in sculptural woodturning and photographically based digital printmaking are influenced by his observations as an art professor, folk art researcher, sculptor, author, and citizen. These media offer differing expressive opportunities. Yet, both are influenced by travel as well as local and world events. For example, the BIG CREEK SERIES of landscape prints was inspired by the tragedy of 9/11. The haunting and paradoxical FISHERMEN OF LAGUNA SERIES of prints (inspiration for the Mask Series), by comparison, directly resulted from interactive personal experiences with a unique culture in the Philippine Islands. Those unforgettable images led Gene to begin investigating the idea of the "mask" as integral to a related set of prints. The LONG PRINT SERIES and more recent sculptural woodturnings and his PYRAMIDAL SCULPTURAL PRINTS continue commentary on important environmental concerns and the human condition.

Contact CREEKSIDE for information about Gene's artwork and/or inquire about commissions, your specialty requirements, or to purchase art shown on this site. New work, as well as additional photographs of earlier works, will be added to this site periodically.

Kangas Art 1965 – 1980	*Sculpture
Kangas Art 1966 – 1980	*Hot Glass
Kangas Art  1981 – 2003	*Metal Sculpture/Public Art Commissions
Kangas Art  1998 – present	*Functional Woodturning *Wood Sculpture
Kangas Art  2000 – Present	Digital Print Series *Big Creek Print Series *Long Print Series *Mask Print Series