After abandoning plans to become an engineer but before embarking on his artistic path, Ken Vavrek took a slight detour. Toiling away in a welding shop, the interim blue-collar job allowed him to learn the trade while fashioning industrial objects like pipe fittings. It also served as a chance for Vavrek to watch veteran welders in action, performing their technically and physically demanding jobs with ease and finesse. "It used to blow my mind that these guys had the skill to do that," says Vavrek.
Now, he's one of those guys. But instead of toiling away in a factory like Republic Steel, Vavrek is working out of the comfort of his Hilltown studio, welding sculptures and wall platters and firing works in his kiln, creating art that's showcased in museums from Philadelphia to China.
Over the years, Vavrek has created ceramic pottery and tiles, but his primary medium is abstract wall sculptures, boasting painterly, glazed surfaces. And even though he's been fashioning his sculpture for decades, Vavrek's fascination with the medium is as fervent as ever. "When that sculpture is on the wall, it's defying gravity, existing in its own space and just hovering there," says Vavrek. "Everybody who sees it feels the weightiness of the object. And visually, it's totally suspended in the space." Vavrek compares the experience to studying a painting on a wall. "When you look at a painting, you forget about the wall, and you get pulled into the image," he continues. "A sculpture on a wall, instead of on a table, lets you move into that space, and free yourself from the world around you."
Following in the footsteps of painters is nothing new to Vavrek. After leaving behind the welding shop, he returned to school to obtain his master's in art education. And while he majored in ceramics, painting and sculpture also figured heavily in his curriculum. To this day, all three play a major part in his work. "A lot of the wall sculptures I've made emphasize a kind of pictorial approach," says Vavrek. "There's a very strong frontal plain, so it has a strong relation to painting. Still, it's made out of clay and glazed, so it's definitely ceramics."
Recently, Vavrek has expanded his repertoire to include wall platters, featuring abstract images, which he refers to as "small paintings." The painter in him exults in the glazing portion of the process in which he admits he has developed a certain aptitude. "I think of it as painting with glaze," he says.
"The imagery in the platter format has a very strong straight-line and geometric quality, and that's softened by the oval perimeter of the plate."
The images he typically depicts in the wall platters are, like in his sculpture, abstract by nature. In the 70s, a visit to the Southwest spurred him to create desert-inspired art. As his work evolved, the desert receded as an obvious starting point, and the abstract features took over. "I have a very strong preference for abstract art," he explains. "I think it's because I always enjoyed mathematics and solid geometry."
This month, Vavrek is showcasing his wall sculptures and wall platters at the Rosenfeld Gallery in Philadelphia. He's also gearing up to show several works in the Elephant's Eye tour in May. The prolific artist says he's rarely at a loss for inspiration In fact, his only problem may be crafting sculptures that are too unwieldy for him too hang himself. "I really irritate myself when I make them too big for me to hang, and my wife has to help out," he laughs.
Looking forward, he says he's completely content with where art has taken him. "My biggest accomplishment is still having my curiosity move me along in a way where I‘m having fun," he says. "I'm still able to make a piece I feel good about."
Go online at kenvavrek.com