Letting Go

Judd Nelson

Installation Date: 2019

Materials: Steel

Description:

The act of letting go is essential to our life process and in getting in touch with our spirituality. Nothing lasts. And since change is inevitable and we all have things that we are going through, whether they are physical, emotional or simply changes in our life. In order to move forward and get in touch with our true spiritual self, we must let go of that which binds us. Through the acts of forgiveness and gratitude, we are able to let go.

This young woman represents your mind and thoughts. Worries and negative thoughts are being released which will make way for a fresh positive mindset. The bird represents our negative thoughts and feelings which are being released to God for transmutation.

“Letting Go” can also be appreciated from an artistic perspective. My sculptures have imagery that is modern yet representational. The style is used and spontaneous, intent upon capturing movement and natural gestures that are typical of the animal or person. I add pieces of forged metal onto this basic structure. My goal is to have the viewer’s immediately recognize the person or animal and to feel its movement. In this sculpture, the young lady is releasing a dove back to the wild. We need to protect our environment and care for all living things.

About the artist:

Judd Nelson grew up in Minnesota and loves being in the outdoors observing the wildlife and totally immersing himself into all the varied landscapes. He started welding in his high school art class at age 15 and 2 years later had his own set of welding tanks. At age 17 he was accepted into his first juried show. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with an art education degree with a major emphasis on metal sculpture. Out of college, he taught art on a Sioux Indian Reservation in So. Dakota and later in the public schools in Boise Idaho. He still enjoys teaching and for the last few years has been teaching Teen Welding at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts. He spends summers in Grand Marais where he has a sculpture studio and teaches a class at the Art Colony.