Today I’m Ben Stiller. OK, I’m not really Ben Stiller, but I feel like Ben must have felt the morning after the big night in the movie, “Night at the Museum.” Remember, the one where he was the night watchman and, after the museum closed, all the exhibits came to life? Well, I just spent a morning at Eric Thorsen’s studio where Eric brought the exhibits to life for me.
Eric is a Bigfork sculptor. He, along with his wife and partner, Cyndy, own and operate a gallery and studio on the corner of Electric and Grand avenues in the village. The creations you see on the main level originate in the studio below. A look at his website will show that Eric is a prolific sculptor, a winner of several awards, and that he creates pieces in bronze and other materials that sell from $20 to $150,000.
I arrived before the gallery opened, so I edged through the back entrance on the lower level. You don’t really walk through the studio because there’s too much stuff all around: works in progress, tables, tools, clay – lots of clay. As I entered, Cyndy was busy putting a base coat of black paint on some production pieces. Eric, she told me, was in the next room polishing leaves. (Big copper leaves that go to a sculpture.)
Eric is pretty eclectic in both the subjects and the media in which he works. One painted bronze sculpture I found was a brightly colored prehistoric snail-like tentacled creature. I’d have guessed nautilus, but Eric said it’s really an ammonite. Eric does paleontological reconstructions and, like all of Eric’s work, he’s faithful to the form and function of reality. “I took biology classes in college and dissected animals to understand their anatomical structure and function,” he tells me. “I apply that knowledge to everything I do, even the paleontological creatures.” Lurking around us, as we speak, are bears of all sizes, mountain goats, African elephants and a particularly menacing rhinoceros. Most of them, at this point in their development, are of clay.
We wander on through the studio. “This is a replica of a helmet from Ancient Greece,” he says, holding up a helmet your typical Spartan would have been proud to wear. “I haven’t done the crows yet.” Noting my puzzled look, he leads me to the painting: A battlefield scene, helmet on the ground, sword beside the helmet, dozens of arrows impaling something under the helmet, one crow perched on the helmet and the other on the sword. I am instantly impressed by both the visual story and the fact that Eric is as talented with a paintbrush as he is with a clay knife. “I like to read,” he explains, “and when a story or an idea captures my attention, I make a painting or a sculpture of it.”
His subject matter seems boundless. I try not to stare at the shapely nude figurines as he explains the attractions of his work. “I love what I do,” he says. “And because of what I do, I get access to things the general public doesn’t. I often get to watch the animals being fed at the zoos. And, if I’m sculpting a rifle, for example, it’s not unusual for me to be able to see the original in a collection and even touch and manipulate it.”
He pulls a rifle, three inches long and in intricate detail, from a clay sculpture. “This is a little too short,” he admits. “I made it 10 percent life size and the clay is at 12 percent. I’ll have to reprint it a bit larger.” Reprint it? I give him a puzzled look. “Yes, I designed it on a computer and printed it in three dimensions. This one doesn’t work, but I could have made one that does. Complete with chamber, action, bullets and all.”
See? Night at the Museum! And this tour is available to anyone interested in Eric’s works. You don’t have to be a night watchman. Or even a writer.
The Eric Thorsen Gallery (and studio) at 570 Electric Avenue is open Monday through Saturday from 10-5. And see the website at www.ericthorsengallery.com.