North Carolina artist Adam Walls explains the appeal of interactive art.
Story By James Johnson Photos By Adam Walls and Emily Kelley
Words like “burly,” “hulking” and “lumbering” come to mind when shaking hands with Adam Walls. The man is the furthest thing from the delicate, dainty and pale faced French fellow one might imagine when skimming over his impressive resume. One look at Walls’ portfolio of towering sculptures however will lay to rest any mental images one might be holding onto involving a fragile hipster. Walls is in the business of making toys for giants. Interactive sculptures that beg to be played with and analyzed. Since 2007, Walls has taught art at UNCP. He received his MFA in Sculpture from Winthrop University in 2005 and his BA in Art Education from Limestone College in 1996. His work has been exhibited nationally. At the moment Walls has six different works moving across four states for various shows, and is in the midst of trying to get a contemporary sculpture park built somewhere in the Carolinas.
FEED: How did you discover your interest in art?
ADAM WALLS: I have always been able to draw well, but when I took my first painting class in undergrad school, I realized that I was spending as much as eight hours at a time in the painting studio. That is when I discovered just how important artistic self expression is to me.
I didn’t find my voice until years later when I was with friends at an art opening in Charlotte, NC. I had no interest at all in the work that was on display, so I went to kill some time in what seemed to be the artist’s break room. While I was there, I saw a G.I.JOE lunchbox that reminded me of how much I loved the incredible escapist fantasies of Saturday morning cartoons … Before that chance encounter with a 1980s lunchbox my work had been pretty formal with some personal matters popping up at times. Looking at those printed metal panels of a JOE with a jet pack, a JOE on what was surely a supersonic motorcycle, and groups of JOES hanging out with ninjas beside a happily waving tank commander, I realized that I had to find a way to share my love for this escapist fantasy.
FEED: You seem to be extremely gifted in all mediums of art, yet you mostly focus on working with sculptures. What is it about sculptures that satisfies you most as an artist?
WALLS: I’m still at a point in my life where I love physically engaging my work and the more physical the work, the greater I feel the connection to the work. Also, with some of the larger pieces, I have the opportunity to become part of the work in a real sense as I build areas in my sculpture that I can crawl into, or interact with in some other way.
FEED: Your work regularly has an interactive element to it. Does art that is designed simply to be looked at bore you?
WALLS: I get pretty bored with standard portrait stuff. If it doesn’t show some emotion, then I look for technical skill or strong formal elements in an art item. Most of the time if a piece is well crafted I can appreciate it, but I’ve seen a few things that bore me, or just flat out wreck my nerves. The worst thing I’ve been noticing recently has been a series of small scale bronze figurative pieces that are popping up at fire departments and occasionally police stations. These works are meant to honor real heroes, but when I see a four foot tall bronze statue of a fireman sitting on a tiny concrete pad, I get really upset. I understand that budget restraints don’t always allow the construction of gigantic larger than life dioramas of our national heroes, but the miniatures just don’t have the power that is needed … I wish that more institutions would consider contemporary sculpture as a solution for such problems. In most cases, you’ll find that a skilled modern sculptor can create a really powerful piece of contemporary art from nontraditional materials that conveys powerful emotions in such a way that we could show real honor to our heroes for a smaller price-tag than a 4’ bronze mini ever could.
FEED: You’ve served as a teacher for many years. Do you get the same satisfaction out of teaching as you do in creating?
WALLS: When I see my students succeed I feel more pride than I can describe to you. The first time one of my student’s sculptures show in the same exhibition as one of mine, I was certainly more proud of hers than I was of my own. I often feel like my students are my children and following my students careers is like watching my children grow up. Seeing their success is a true wonder.
FEED: How long does it generally take you to complete a sculpture?
WALLS: When I really have the time to tear into a project, I can knock out one a month, but sometimes it takes a lot longer if it’s a lot of fabrication. Plus, if it’s while I’m teaching then it stretches that time out quite a bit. Most people don’t consider that when they see one of my more heavily fabricated pieces that just popped up over night. What they are really seeing is several months of my life and all the sweat and struggle that went into it, since I do all of my own fabrication and I’m just one guy.
FEED: Do you have to be in a certain frame of mind to create? Do you require some kind of inspiration, or message to convey?
WALLS: I have a lifetime of inspiration to draw from, but what I do need is time to get my tolls set up and not have to worry about having to be somewhere in an hour. That’s what makes being a full time professor and a full time sculptor such a tough thing, but I couldn’t imagine giving up on either one.
FEED: Sculpting is not a cheap art. Are there ideas floating around in your head that can’t be done simply because of the expense of making them happen?
WALLS: That is so very true. I hate compromise, but looking at things realistically, I have to face compromise everyday. Money, space and time restraints are always a challenge.
FEED: If someone wants to see your work in person, where can they go?
WALLS: Locally I have work in the downtown plaza in Raleigh, NC, at the North Charleston River Front Park in Charleston, SC, at the Rocky Mount Art Center in Rocky Mount, NC, on campus at UNC-Pembroke in Pembroke, NC, and at the Craven Arts Center in New Bern, NC. They can see more that’s a little further out on my website, www.sculpturebyadamwalls.com
