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25" Few artists working in America today have received the critical acclaim imparted to Martin Puryear. Puryear began his art career in 1959, under the direction of painter Nell Sonneman at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D. Between 1964 and 1966, working as a teacher in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Puryear independently studied West African arts and crafts. In 1967, while enrolled at the Swedish Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm, he began to study carpentry. It was in Sweden that Puryear shifted his artistic focus from painting to sculpture. 25" Few artists working in America today have received the critical acclaim imparted to Martin Puryear. Puryear began his art career in 1959, under the direction of painter Nell Sonneman at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D. Between 1964 and 1966, working as a teacher in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Puryear independently studied West African arts and crafts. In 1967, while enrolled at the Swedish Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm, he began to study carpentry. It was in Sweden that Puryear shifted his artistic focus from painting to sculpture.

Martin Puryear Martin Puryear Martin Puryear returns repeatedly to forms and motifs he has used before-modifying them through changes in scale, proportion, or materials-in a continuous effort to extract new meanings. Though he has worked with stone, cast metal, and glass, his long-standing favorite material is wood. His love of wood stems from his exposure to African carving and carpentry traditions while a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone in the mid-1960s. He often combines different woods in a single sculpture, as in number 12 from the series Boy's Toys (1985), enjoying the interplay of textures and colors and the responsiveness of the woods to various carving and shaping techniques. Puryear's works on view inside the museum and in the Garden share similar elongated, usually cone-shaped forms tapering off from a broad base.

Sonneman struggled to get Puryear to present structure and space with as much vigor as he did exterior appearance. Ultimately, though, Puryear gave up painting altogether and dedicated himself to sculpture. Upon graduation in 1963, he joined the Peace Corps as an alternative to serving in Viet Nam, sending him to Sierra Leone. He taught art occasionally at the mission secondary school, but mainly concentrated on biology, French, and English. Puryear developed a profound respect for the craftsmen he met in Sierra Leone, for he had some background in the matter.
A good sierra site: http://www.shepherd-express.com/shepherd/19/36/night_and_day/film.html

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