Wild Dance at Naa’Waya’Sum Coastal Indigenous Gardens (formerly Tofino Botanical Gardens and Ecolodge Tofino)
Sculpting the Shadows of Ancestors
In my art I sculpt very simple human forms, gestures, usually in wood. I intentionally impose the minimum of detail necessary to convey humanity—no particular ethnic identity and often no gender. My hope is that any viewer may stand in front of a piece, see a person or group of people in some activity, and identify with them. I want the viewer to feel included and invited in, not excluded from participation. It is almost as if these simple forms are sculptures of human shadows.
When working from wood I try to retain in the final piece some of the natural lines of the tree of origin. By this means I hope that the viewer may be reminded of a tree, as well as of a human in the chosen gesture. Ancestries of people and trees intertwine together in their beauty.
The scale of my work ranges from one to twelve feet (30-360 cm) tall. For outdoor public pieces I want them to be somewhat larger than human scale, so that we must look up to them, as we do to our own ancestors.
Once I arrive at the desired form of the sculpture I often have it cast into bronze. This process retains all of the surface features of the wood of the original while at the same time providing durability, permanence, and resilience to the final pubic piece. Visually it still has the impression of wood.
Dude Chilling
Atlas Obscura Podcast: Dude Chilling Park
“Visit a renegade art project in Vancouver that galvanized a small community, pitted residents against city government, and ultimately resulted in a new name for a chill park.”
Dude Chilling Park on Atlas Obscura
It all started in 1991, when a piece by sculptor Michael Dennis titled Reclining Figure was installed in the park. Reclining Figure struck some in the neighborhood as an impressionistic vision of just some guy kicking back. A “dude chilling,” you might say. For years the name gained traction, to the point where most locals referred to the small patch of green space as “Dude Chilling Park.”
At Large
Photo by Adrian Lam, Times Colonist
Robert Amos: The human essence, in sculpture
Folly is one of the sculptures by Michael Dennis, part of Muses: The Female Form in Cedar and Bronze at Abkhazi Garden.
Michael Dennis interview with John Grande
[Art] almost needs to be constantly redefining itself in order to make what’s new interesting. It is not just objects anymore.
Michael Dennis installing Naiad in 1988
(Filberg Heritage Lodge and Park)
‘It’s like a family member’: Filberg Heritage Park to say goodbye to well-loved sculpture
The time has come for a well-loved sculpture in Comox’s Filberg Heritage Lodge and Park to be retired after 35 years by the water. The “NAIAD” sculpture can be found near the water at the park and was put there in 1988 by sculptor Michael Dennis from Denman Island. Over the years, it has become a fixture of the park and left many memories for visitors from near and far, according to executive director Linda Thomas. “I think for everyone, it’s probably something you have a picture of your kids, or your family or yourself on it,” said Thomas. “I would say even for my own kids, we moved here in 2007, and I have pictures of them when they were little on that sculpture. “It just looks so beautiful, and it looks so peaceful. It’s just kind of one of those wonderful things.”
In the Studio
The artist with two works in cedar outside Denman Island studio.
Studio, Photo by Michael Scott
Studio, Denman Island, BC
Studio, photo by Michael Scott
CV & Public Collections
Citizenship
Canadian and US
Education
Reed College, Portland OR, Bachelor of Arts, 1963
Stanford University, Stanford CA, PhD in Neurophysiology, 1967
Academic Digression
Harvard Medical School, Instructor, 1967-70
University College London, Research Fellow, 1970-72
University of California, San Francisco, Professor of Physiology, 1972-79
Artistic Indications
Sculpture Margam International Competition, Margam Park, Port Talbot, Wales, 1993
Inaugural Exhibition, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD, 1995-96
International Sculpture Symposium, Volary, Czech Republic, 1997
Millfield School Commission, Glastonbury, England, 1998
Gut Gasteil Sculpture Park, Prigglitz, Austria, 2000
University of Washington Commission, Bothell, WA, 2000
Art-Science Fusion Project, Goldegg, Austria, 2001
Chancellory House Commission, 2005
US/Canada Peace Arch Park, 2006
Penticton Public Art Competition, Penticton, BC, 2006
Public Collections
Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey BC
University of California, San Francisco, CA
Denman Island Community Hall, Denman Island, BC
Filberg Foundation, Comox, BC
Denman Island Senior Citizens Centre, Denman Island, BC
Guelph Park, City of Vancouver, BC
Port Angeles Fine Arts Centre, Port Angeles, WA
Margam Park, Port Talbot, Wales
Sprucefield Park, City of North Vancouver, BC
Simon Fraser University, BC
Denman Island Old School Centre, Denman Island, BC
Heron Rocks Society, Hornby Island, BC
Saghalie School, Federal Way, WA
City of Bellevue, Bellevue, WA
Seattle Vocational Institute, Seattle, WA
Carillon Point, Kirkland, WA
City of Volary, Czech Republic
DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Millfield School, Glastonbury, England
University of Washington, Bothell, WA
Naa’Waya’Sum Coastal Indigenous Gardens (formerly Tofino Botanical Gardens), Tofino, BC, (Ancestors image, Red Dancers image)
Olympic College, Poulsbo, WA
Chancellor House, University of British Columbia
Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton, ON
City of Penticton, BC
Simon Fraser University, BC
VanDusen Gardens, Vancouver BC
Telus Corporate Headquarters, Vancouver BC
Dude Chilling Park, Vancouver BC
Vancouver Womens Hospital, Vancouver BC
Denman Island Natural Cemetery
Studio, Denman Island
Working outside Denman Island studio