Ed Pogue was born in Blytheville, Arkansas in 1962 and attended Paragould High School from 1976 to 1980. He graduated from Arkansas State University with a BFA Degree in Studio Art in 1985. Ed moved to New Jersey in 1988 upon the completion of his MFA Degree with emphasis in sculpture at Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. Wanting to be more involved in the collegiate atmosphere he moved to Palm Desert, California in 1989 to become a faculty member at College of the Desert. Ed was Director of the California Sculpture Center at COD for two years when in 1992 the institution closed the sculpture program and facilities. In 1993 he worked for a short period of time at the Monterey Sculpture Center in Monterey, California, but still longing to teach, he accepted a position in 1994 at the prestigious Academy of Art College in San Franciso, California, now the Academy of Art University. Ed taught many sculpture courses and was the cheif manager for operations of the large Sculpture Center facility in downtown. Ed decided to move to Lindsborg, Kansas in 1999 when he was approached with the possibility of teaching full-time with no administrative duties. He is currently an Associate Professor of Art at Bethany College.

Artist Statement

I’ve been working as a professional sculptor now for two decades. Cast and fabricated metals have remained primary components within my work. Revelations visited via the lost wax technique of casting, its potential for surface treatment, defiance of gravity, and its authority of weight, both actual and conceptual; exert a presence that needs exploration. The inter-relatedness of process, material, and subject matter; how these aspects of sculpture making define a form’s context and understanding, are still mysteries to me. Historical, cultural, and religious connotations of three-dimensional art forms are important influences on my work. The column, the obelisk, the totem pole, the cross, the piling of stones on a Jewish grave, artifacts and fossils embedded in natural rock formations, all fascinating markers of a past existence heavily influencing my work.

As of late I have been concentrating on the column as a formal architectural and traditional sculptural form. As a religious Jew it serves for me as metaphor for the importance of singularity, simplistic universal order, symbolic intercessor between heaven and earth, all powerful narratives for designs. Good sculpture like good stories need good beginnings, strong endings, and intersecting plots. I feel the column lends itself well for the display of such attributes. Filled with significant architectural roots it has become a starting point for me in an attempt to establish a connection between formal design characteristics, architectural components, as well as, location and placement within the environment.

Size and specific locations play an important role in the creation of my work. I have as of late been utilizing the computer in developing possible virtual locations. This process allows me an opportunity to evaluate compositions, context, and imagery. Viewer interaction is an important concern in my work; either on a more visceral intimate personal level as with the smaller works, or on a more impersonal purely visual level as with the larger sculpture.

I employ more “historical” sculptural materials and processes such as cast bronze in balance and juxtaposition to more “modern” industrial materials and processes such as fabricated stainless steel. My work utilizes recognizable as well as purely nonobjective forms. Stones, twigs, horns, the river channels and rock formations of Southern Utah, the landscape and plateaus developed along the California Coast; all suggesting gateways to the past. I have discovered sculpture to offer a comprehensive means to articulate a deeper response to the precarious balance of nature and industry, providing a unique opportunity to share these discoveries with others.