Robert Byron Willms (born 1969) is a Canadian sculptor and teacher, best known for creating assembled, abstract

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

sculptures.

Biography

Willms was born in

Abbotsford, British Columbia Abbotsford is a city located in British Columbia, adjacent to the Canada–United States border, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser River. With an estimated population of 153,524 people it is the largest municipality in the province outside metrop ...

in 1969 and resides in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

.He has lived in Fort St. John,

Dawson Creek Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The municipality of had a population of 12,978 in 2016. Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community. The creek was named after ...

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

, and

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

, which he considers his hometown. Robert's father, John Willms, while working as a welder, encouraged his son to consider the

ironworking Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...

trade, but Robert initially disliked the idea of such work. At eighteen years old, Willms was injured in a motorcycle accident, resulting in a below-knee

amputation Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...

of one leg. Ever adaptable, Willms defied this disability as an avid snowboarder and cyclist. Willms' interest in making art began with pencil drawings, copying pictures of famous paintings out of art books, and lead to his earning

Associate of Arts An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

and

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degrees. This formal education ironically left Willms feeling "disillusioned with the arts completely". Willms married, and had two children. A visit to the steel sculpture studio of Peter Hide reignited Willms' interest in art. Hide took Willms on, initially as an exhibition preparation volunteer, then as a studio assistant, and eventually as a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

student at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

. During his time at the school, Willms co-founded the Society of Student Artists (SoSA), now known as the University of Alberta Visual Arts Student Association (VASA). After leaving university, Willms joined the

North Edmonton Sculpture Workshop The North Edmonton Sculpture Workshop (NESW) is an artist collective, or artist-run initiative, centred on a co-operative shared studio in Edmonton, Alberta, focused on "the creation and promotion of ambitious Contemporary art, contemporary sculpt ...

(NESW). Willms is a member of the Edmonton Contemporary Artists' Society (ECAS).

Work

Willms works in the

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

assembled sculpture tradition begun by Julio González and

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, and continued by David Smith,

Anthony Caro Sir Anthony Alfred Caro (8 March 192423 October 2013) was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using ' found' industrial objects. His style was of the modernist school, having worked with Henry Moor ...

, and Willms' mentor, Peter Hide, using solid and sheet steel forms to create heavy, convoluted abstract sculptures. Art critic

Piri Halasz Piri Halasz is an American art critic, educator and writer. Biography The daughter of diet-book author Ruth West, she attended Barnard College, where she majored in English and served as the features editor of the ''Barnard Bulletin''. She then we ...

has written, in reference to international contemporary sculpture, "''As far as that goes, New York also has no equal to Hide, nor to such up-and-comers as Willms...''". Robert Willms himself has stated, "''No declaration regarding my artwork will withstand scrutiny when compared against the work itself, and little that I say about myself can be surely trusted. Words lack. I am unable to adequately explain how it is that one sculpture looks better than another. Neither can I foretell how good the next one might be. I nevertheless aspire, beholden by the greatest examples of art, to the creation of my own good work – a life’s work that will last because it’s too good to toss out.''" Six of Willms' sculptures are featured in the

Robert T. Webb Sculpture Garden The Robert T. Webb Sculpture Garden is a admission-free, open-air museum and sculpture park located in Dalton, Georgia, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is operated by the Creative Arts Guild, the state's oldest multi-disciplinary, community ar ...

; the largest representation of works by any one artist within the collection. ''Trojan Taurus'' is listed in the "key works" within the "Founders Garden" area of the collection. Willms' sculptures are featured in other public collections, including the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute; the

Alberta Foundation for the Arts Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) is a crown agency charged with development and promotion of the arts in Alberta, Canada Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is par ...

and the University of Alberta.

References

External links

Robert Willms's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willms, Robert 1969 births Living people People from Abbotsford, British Columbia Artists from British Columbia Assemblage artists 21st-century Canadian sculptors Canadian male sculptors 21st-century Canadian male artists