“For nearly two decades I have been interested in making sculpture using natural materials that I find mostly in the woods surrounding my home in North Branch, NY,” says Baylin who often selects long forsythia branches and rocks plucked from creek beds for his work. “I was first inspired by fallen branches that were snagged by others on descent, then left to dangle out of place, newly configured: instant sculpture in the woods.”
Baylin divides his time between North Branch, where he has had a home for more than 20 years, and Brooklyn where he teaches high school art at Packer Collegiate Institute. He graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute with a degree in painting and also received an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, at which time his work re-emerged into three dimensions, his first real interest in art. He has continued to make sculpture since then.
“I spend my time combing the woods in search of the interesting turn or twist in a branch. Then I spend hours combining and re-combining the branches, angling the string, shifting the rocks,” says Baylin. “The more I insert myself into the process, the less pleased I am with the results. If the branches start to depict or overly suggest a person or thing, I start again.”
-Eric Baylin
Baylin has exhibited in various shows throughout Sullivan County. His work is included in the collections at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC and the Greenville Museum of Art in Greenville, NC, as well as in numerous private collections.
Acknowledgments
The activities of the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance are made possible in part by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support from the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
