The National Sculpture Society is pleased to present Altered Realities. The exhibition features the work of 12 members of the Society and will be on view from May 22 through August 4 at the NSS Gallery in midtown Manhattan. The works included in Altered Realities explore unreal and imagined worlds and the beings, creatures, and natural elements that inhabit them. The NSS Gallery is alive with otherworldly shapes, forms, and figures that hint at the familiar but have a component of the unknown and mysterious. The sculptures on display represent the different styles, backgrounds, and disciplines of NSS members. Fellows (FNSS), Elected Members (NSS), and Associates comprise the levels of membership of the organization which is international in scope and appeal. National Sculpture Society is a not-for-profit organization which supports excellence in sculpture through various educational programs including scholarships and grants for emerging artists.

The Jury of Selection plays an important part in shaping and balancing an exhibition and each jury is comprised of two sculptors and one curator. For Altered Realities, the Jury of Selection included NSS Fellows Deon Duncan and Leo E. Osborne; and Bartholomew Bland, Executive Director, Lehman College Art Gallery, The City University of New York (Bronx, NY).

Artists in the show are Elisa Adams, NSS; Steven A. Carpenter, NSS; Tom Durham, FNSS; Morgan Dummitt, NSS; Elizabeth Jordan; Richard MacDonald, FNSS; Janice Mauro, FNSS; William Paquet; Robert Rankin; Eric Serritella; Kathryn Vinson and Jeremiah D. Welsh.

New Jersey artist, Elizabeth Jordan, uses animal figures to reinvent age-old fables with new and unsettling spins.  Jordan cites fairy tales and horror films as inspiration but insists that there is a reason for her twist on these timeworn yarns. “The animals may seem dark, but they are not humorless. They have a request: please pay attention to their gestures, positions, cuts, and scars. Through them they portray animals living in a human world. Their appearance tells of the moment of surrender to the inevitable, and it reveals their secret stories of the ephemeral nature of life.” Elizabeth Jordan is the recipient of the 2023 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the winner of National Sculpture Society’s 2022 Ettl Grant.

Philadelphia sculptor, Robert Rankin’s terracotta portrait Chochma is a realization of unseen energies in the universe. “My current study of Kabbalah, specifically the 10 Sefirots, is reflected in my work. Our Sefirots create the environment through which the universe can be perfected. They are our spiritual energies of Mind and Emotion that I call the angels of our soul. The first of these angels is Chochma, which is the creative and intuitive flash of intellectual illuminations that has not yet been manifested.”

National Sculpture Society’s 2022 Stanley Bleifeld Memorial Grant recipient, Eric Seritella, draws inspiration from the flora of his North Carolina home, but his works are more than mere replications of the natural world. With all his sculptures — and with his ceramic birch, Defiance — Serritella asks the viewer to look deeper.  “To experience nature’s subjects in books or online is to experience them as nouns. To live amongst them is to experience them as verbs. My sculptures translate these actions into subconscious stories told by my hands. It’s from this perspective that I channel and share their private stories, so their secluded voices are heard.”

National Sculpture Society was founded in New York City in 1893 by a group of America’s most prominent sculptors. Its members have created much of this country’s public sculpture, coins, and medals since the late 1800s. It is the oldest organization of professional sculptors in the United States and has been hosting exhibitions for over a century. Fellows (FNSS), Elected Members (NSS), and Associates designate the types of sculptor membership in the organization, which is international in scope and appeal. National Sculpture Society is dedicated to promoting excellence in sculpture that is inspired by nature.

• WHAT:     Altered Realities Exhibition
• WHERE:  NSS Gallery, 6 East 39th Street, Suite 903, NYC 10016
• WHEN:    May 22 – August 4, 2023
• HOURS:  M-F 10am to 5pm or by appointment