Blake Ward
Blake Ward (born June 3, 1956) is a Canadian-born sculptor best known for his contemporary approach to the classical figure. Contrary to the trend toward abstraction that was taught during his formal education in Canada, Ward's early work centred on the figure. Evolving through the 1990s and early 2000s into contemporary partial figures created as excerpts of the human condition. In the words of Art Critic Jacqueline Ceresoli "Bodies in metamorphosis, balanced between apocalypse and the Postmodern, steeped in a lost Classical age, echoed through an ever-evolving Renaissance, in vibrant tension or torsion as they head toward some future utopia." Ward has been exhibited in France, Monaco, Italy, Germany, England, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, the United States and Canada. Early life Blake William Ward was born on June 3, 1956, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Canada and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. Born to Maxwell W. Ward (1922-2020) and Marjorie Dortha (née Skelton) Ward, (born 1923). Blake was the youngest of four children. Encouraged by his parents, his love for art developed through his travels to Europe and the United States as a young man. "He credits his mother who he said was instrumental in exposing him to art and instilling in him this passion of creation." Greek sculpture seen in London and Athens remained among the most influential, followed by the works of Auguste Rodin and finally a fascination with the work of Marcel Duchamp. Education Ward attended the University of Alberta, where he studied abstract welded steel sculpture under Peter Hide, a graduate from St. Martins School of Art, London, and a student of the English sculptor Anthony Alfred Caro. Although, figurative sculpture was always the discipline of choice for Ward, it was unavailable in Canada as a field of study. Ward's University studies also included art history. He completed a summer course in Rome, which greatly influenced his artistic journey. "I was fortunate to have had the opportunity early in life to see churches and cities covered in figurative sculpture." After receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with honours in 1979, Ward worked for Wardair Canada Ltd., in the US, Mexico, England, France, Spain, Italy and briefly in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. While living in Paris, (1985 - 1989), Ward had the opportunity to delve into 18th and 19th century sculpture, earnestly studying works by Auguste Rodin, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Jean-Antoine Houdon, Aimé-Jules Dalou and Aristide Maillol. As a pupil of American sculptor, Cyril Heck, Ward learned a classical method of sculpting the figure that was said to have been developed by the ancient Greeks. Ward has credited Heck as the most knowledgeable teacher he had ever studied under. "I was lucky and was able to study under an excellent teacher for four years and that was the beginning of what I can only qualify today as both a blessing and an obsession," Beginning in 1985 Ward spent most of his free time studying with Heck in his atelier in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. The method taught by