Seven weeks, July 12 to August 30
Texas Sculpts IV
Bold forms. 13 Texas artists. One unique exhibition.
Texas Sculpts IV is a unique, juried exhibition that brings together 13 sculptors from across Texas—ranging from emerging talent to seasoned, award-winning artists. This bold collection highlights the diversity of materials, methods, and creative visions shaping contemporary sculpture today. The result is a rare opportunity to experience a wide spectrum of artistic voice, process, and potential—all in one curated exhibition.
You’re invited to the opening reception on Saturday, July 12, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Come as you are—bring a friend or the whole family—and enjoy an afternoon surrounded by bold, inspiring sculpture. Many of the artists will be present, happy to discuss their work, share their process, or simply connect.
This free event is open to the public, and refreshments will be served.
Pull up a chair for our Lunch and Learn artist talk
Wednesdays, July 23 & August 13
12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Join us for a casual midday conversation where you'll hear directly from the artists about their work and what inspires them to create.
Each session offers a relaxed, behind-the-scenes look at the creative process. You're welcome to bring your lunch—or not. Whether you come with a sandwich or just your curiosity, everyone is invited to spend the lunch hour surrounded by art and conversation.
This event is free and open to the public. A $10 donation to the ArtCentre, in support of Texas Sculpts IV, is always appreciated.
A juried exhibition of emerging and established Texas sculptors
Now in its 4th year, Texas Sculpts IV brings together artists gaining momentum and those whose work has shaped the sculptural landscape in Texas for decades. This dynamic mix of fresh perspectives and seasoned vision—carefully selected by a panel of collectors and arts professionals—defines the power and depth of this exhibition.
The result is a rare opportunity to explore a wide spectrum of artistic voice, process, and potential in one cohesive, curated experience.
A preview of the over 30 works in Texas Sculpts IV. From above: Robbie Ellis, Heavy Lifting, 2017, wood, steel, paint, found objects, 77 × 27 × 51 inches; Larry Whiteley, Big Bad Brass Nest, 2025, brass, 8 × 20 × 6 inches; Fari Rahimi, Back to the Start, 2024, powder-coated steel, acrylic glass, 3D printing, 45 × 45 × 11 inches.
Sponsorship helps bring Texas Sculpts IV to life
Texas Sculpts IV is made possible through the generous support of sponsors who believe in the power of art to inspire, challenge, and connect communities. If you or your business would like to support this one-of-a-kind exhibition—and be recognized as a champion of the arts in Texas, please click the button.
Meet the sculptors shaping this year's exhibition
These 13 sculptors represent some of the most compelling voices in Texas sculpture today. Individually, their work speaks to mastery of material, clarity of vision, and a deep commitment to craft. Together, they form a powerful survey of contemporary sculpture across the state—inviting collectors, curators, and art appreciators alike to experience what’s possible when concept and craftsmanship align.
Scroll below to read their bios.
Cody Arnall
Lubbock, Texas
Cody Arnall is an Associate Professor of Sculpture at Texas Tech University. Arnall’s research interests include traditional and nontraditional sculpture approaches, installation, and interdisciplinary approaches in visual art. Through material selection and manipulation, his work addresses human intervention in environments and impending doom.
Recent exhibitions are a solo at Box13 Artspace and inclusion in the 8th annual Sculpture Month Houston exhibition, Solid State, both in Houston. Cody has also shown at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN; Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, PA; Contemporary Art Museum Plainview, Plainview, TX; Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO; Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA; K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX; CICA Museum, Gimpo, SKR; Site:Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY; Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans, LA; Durango Arts Center, Durango, CO; Pump Project, Austin, TX; Terminal 136, San Antonio, TX; Herron School of Art and Design, Indianapolis, IN; Brigham Young University, Provo, UT; DEMO Project, Springfield, IL; Living Arts, Tulsa, OK; the American University Museum, Washington, DC; and The Shed, Galway, IE. He has also participated in residencies at Sculpture Space in Utica, NY and at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson VT.
Arnall was born and raised in Tulsa, OK. He received a BFA in Studio Art from Oklahoma State University, and an MFA in Studio Art from Louisiana State University. Prior to his appointment at TTU, Arnall spent two years as a Full-Time Instructor at the Paducah School of Art & Design in Paducah, KY. He is also a member of the international artists' collective, Expanded Draught and a founding member of the artist-run gallery and studio space, CO-OPt in Lubbock, TX.
Artist Statement
TNT explodes the side of a mountain to create a road.
12 million tons of earth evaporated in a nuclear blast experiment.
Coyotes hit by vehicles.
Car radio plays nothing but static.
River push boat blasts horn approaching a bend.
Warehouses full of junk.
Plastic shopping bags in trees.
My art research is preoccupied by human error. An action or series of actions leading to something that was not intended. I think a lot about our impending doom, how fragile existence is, and what the future looks like with or without us.
I collect trash from the side of the road while walking my dog, save dust from the studio floor, make molds of mundane objects, and observe human interventions in the landscape. I do research site visits to former nuclear test sites, and travel to film secluded landscapes while I sit or lay quietly. These are ways I accumulate subjects, materials, and imagery for my works.
The pieces included in Texas Sculpts IV are selections from Trash Series. Trash Series consists of small sculptures made with materials collected while walking my dog. Each piece is created from collected materials found from a single walk on the day the materials were collected. Pieces range from 5”–20.” This is an ongoing project started in 2016.
Melissa Auberty
Glen Rose, Texas
I studied art at SMU in Dallas while working as a graphic designer by day, and earned my BFA in 1979 with an emphasis in painting. The art program in the 1970s was classically rigorous, and I credit that foundation — along with a handful of inspiring professors — for shaping both my technique and my work ethic.
Over the years, I’ve worn many hats in the art world: designer, gallery curator, and gallery owner. I opened Atmosphere Gallery in Los Angeles in the late ’80s, where I represented contemporary artists and early 20th-century decorative art. Eventually, I returned to Texas, a move that reconnected me to the land and sparked a creative resurgence.
My work often centers on primitive gestures, large-scale movement, and natural subjects like horses, deer, and bones — expressions inspired by my rural surroundings and time spent at my family’s ranch near Glen Rose. I paint, sculpt, and draw in spaces that are both studio and sanctuary. These places allow me to explore the raw, elemental forces that drive my work.
My paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in solo and group shows, and are part of numerous private and corporate collections. I continue to show through galleries in Dallas, Fort Worth, Midland, and Glen Rose, as well as my own studio, Blue Horse.
Artist’s Statement
I call myself an abstract painter, because in truth that is what we artists are. We can only invent with our hands and hearts what is intrinsically true – to us – and what is profoundly significant beyond our own identity.
My work springs from the touch and smell of Texas soil – from a childhood immersed in nature. I was born in the Year of the Horse and suppose the love of horses was embedded in my bones. I grew up on horseback, communed, swam and slept with horses. They were my confidantes and later, my muses. I have known intimately the rhythm of the earth, the pattern of the stars, the secret language of trees and comfort of the woods.
Like the first humans who reached up to paint on the blackened dome of their caves, I too felt that urge from an early age – to explore and define the mysterious world around me. I am that cave dweller – seeking to direct the power and infinite beauty of my experience into my work. Blue horses running toward the viewer or grazing peacefully; deer frozen under a full moon; fields of golden hay broiling in the summer sun; rhythmic movement of shadows in the woods turned to abstraction of paint on canvas – all are direct translations of nature and her infinite truth.
I do not seek to recreate what I see, but rather to generate an image that speaks a new language – one to which the viewer responds through a kind of sense memory.
Ellis Barber
Waco, Texas
I am a second-year graduate student with a concentration in sculpture at The University of Mississippi. Working primarily with fabricated steel, my sculptures explore themes of stress and anxiety. These works not only represent those experiences and their effects, but also serve as protectors that shield and comfort me.
Artist Statement
My sculptures reflect my experience with stress and anxiety. By creating work that discusses my experience with stress, I am better able to manage and confront it. The process of making them reflects this. By meticulously welding, sanding, and painting, these sculptures develop a life and personality through the act of making. Upon their completion, I feel attached to this presence and personality that I have imbued on them.
Depicting this subject with intense colors and whimsical forms can invite others to ponder their own experiences with stress in an approachable way. By surrounding myself with my creations, they protect me from stressful experiences and anxious thoughts.
Robbie Barber
Waco, Texas
I am currently Professor of Art at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where I have taught sculpture since 2000. I was born in Williamston, North Carolina in 1964 and raised on a farm near the Roanoke River in Martin County. I received my BFA from East Carolina University in 1987 and my MFA from the University of Arizona in 1991.
My sculptural work, which spans a wide range of media, has gained recognition and earned several honors, including a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship and a Southern Arts Federation/NEA Fellowship in Sculpture. I’ve exhibited my work in venues such as Redbud Gallery (Houston), Socrates Sculpture Park (New York), the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art (Alabama), Grounds For Sculpture (New Jersey), and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum (Japan).
Artist Statement
My travels throughout rural America have attracted me to the strong visual character of this country’s vernacular architecture. Vintage lap-board houses, mobile homes, and agriculture-related structures have become regional icons that ultimately tell the stories of their inhabitants and builders. This implied history interests me deeply. Typically considered eyesores, these structures are glaring reminders of the social and economic plight of much of our society. Yet on a formal level, they have a hidden beauty, complex in color, texture, and shape. A feeling of sadness is often prevalent in these works, featuring the last vestiges of a life lived.
Tin Barn: Bottle Tree depicts a barn that my dad built on his farm, combined with an iconic southern folk staple, the bottle tree. It reminds me of my time growing up in the “Islands,” a swampy region where his farm is located in North Carolina.
Heavy Lifting features a barn made in former East Germany, mounted on a Cold War Russian wheelbarrow. Several years ago, I traveled to Germany to expand my studies of vernacular architecture. This is the first sculpture I’ve made from that experience, specifically reflecting the cultural juxtapositions that exist in the region.
Melissa Turner Drumm
Dallas, Texas
I was raised in New Orleans where food, art, music, architecture and landscape all had deeply rooted influences in making art and leading the life of an Artist. After earning a BFA in Painting and Printmaking at Tulane University I swiftly moved to New York for MFA Painting studies at Bard College. There isn’t a day that goes by when I do not recall the scents of the lush woods and wandering streams. As a child I spent summers in the North Carolina woods where I find myself most at home.
In contrast, as a peripatetic Artist I have travelled the world and lived in Philadelphia, New York City, London, Los Angeles and have settled in Texas, for now, after fortuitously moving from New Orleans three weeks before Katrina. Traveling has lent broad exposure and perspective to cultures, artistry, people and most importantly foods. Traveling has filtrated my work to its purest simplest shape, color, form and material. With global divisiveness in politics, culture and religion this series focuses on playfulness and a return to hand made longstanding sculptural materials away from works largely of concept.
My paintings and sculptures are in private and museum collections and exhibited extensively throughout the United States. Recently a large outdoor public sculpture was installed at the Cathedral of Hope Phillip Johnson Interfaith Peace Chapel in Dallas, Texas. Currently, I continue making large public sculpture with two projects in the works.
Artist Statement
Experimenting with different mediums and techniques is a constant driving force. Academically educated as a painter and printmaker my work took a turn when I taught myself to weld from carefully vetted YouTube videos. Metals have been welded, laser cut, 3d printed, etched and engraved. My own inventive wax and blow torch drawings on large roofing sheets of copper led me to Sculpture. The challenge of making work to fully encompass space is both thrilling and joyful.
Recently, I dove into the mercurial, brutalist medium of concrete which has a steep learning curve. The fast-paced curing of concrete suits my nature. As explorations continue, welding and lost wax bronze casting are still enjoyed.
It has been said that the gold standard for Texas is oil, aka Texas Tea. Two of the pieces exhibited contend that Queso is the Texas standard as seen in playful minimalist swipes in gold.
Howard Greisdorf
Plano, Texas
With a professional background spanning more than 30 years in architecture and construction, I bring a designer’s mindset and a maker’s curiosity to my visual art practice. I often begin with a blank slate and no fixed idea—letting intuition and experimentation lead the way across paper, canvas, or worktable. My ultimate goal is to arrive at a composition that simply feels right.
I studied psychology at the University of Florida and earned both my M.S. and Ph.D. in Information Science from the University of North Texas. My academic research focused on how people perceive and organize images, leading to multiple published works on the cognitive nature of visual collections and image retrieval.
Over the past 80 years, my creative work has included pen and pencil drawings, paper-mâché, ceramics, jewelry, essays, acrylic paintings and skins, miscellaneous constructions, and published texts. At the heart of it all is the same mission: to create what pleases me at a particular moment in time.
I’ve been involved in the local arts community as a member and former board member of both the Art Centre of Plano and the Plano Art Association.
Artist Statement
I have always believed, contrary to popular opinion, that “art is in the eye of its creator.” Whether others consider the work to be artistic has mostly been a commercial enterprise depending on the “quantity of others.” With that said, my work over the past 80-plus years has included pen and pencil drawings, paper-mâché, ceramics, jewelry, essays, paintings, acrylic skins, miscellaneous constructions, and published works. The mission has always been to please my own interests at a particular point in time.
This current series of painted wood constructions stems from my personal outlook on the future of mankind and its basic preference for living and working in rectangular spaces. Historically, that premise has proven to be accurate considering the efficiency and functionality of rectangular spaces, the psychological comfort provided through stability and predictability, construction practicality, ease of navigation that offers clear boundaries, and the influence of architectural factors that dictate a sense of normalcy through the use of squares and rectangles.
I have taken that historical premise and projected it into a future where earthly habitation may no longer be sustainable as we know it. With the advent of increasing threats from pollution, climate change, uncontrollable pandemics, and nuclear holocaust, continued existence for homo sapiens, as we know the species today, may need to rethink its earth-based living habits and/or find it necessary to settle elsewhere in the universe. Scholars, already attuned to the existing and potential threats, are starting to suggest the need for an exodus from the planet by the year 3000.
This collection represents an architectural vision of that habitable future. Each maquette consists of a stationary sustainability port (black) purposed for supplying clean air, clean water, power generation, and waste recycling to an assembly of attached cubes (red). Each cube, designed for public space, living space, offices, shops, classrooms, laboratories, medical or manufacturing space, will be transportable and designed to attach or detach from another cube and/or a sustainability port.
Whether stationary or in orbit, each structure will be self-sustaining and reconfigurable as needed to support the inhabitants. The title of each maquette speaks for itself, whimsical as that may be.
Aron Kapembeza
Dallas, Texas and Harare, Zimbabwe
Aron Kapembeza is one of Zimbabwe’s most successful and widely represented stone sculptors. His artistic talent was evident at an early age and was nurtured by his aunt, the renowned second-generation sculptor Colleen Madamombe. It was under her guidance that Aron began carving off-cuts and learning the rudiments of sculpting before developing a unique style of his own. She encouraged him to work with larger stones—an influence that helped define his life's passion.
Aron’s work focuses expressively on womanhood, a subject close to him having grown up surrounded by women. His early sculptures depicted female figures of various ages, rendered with graceful lines and a flowing style. He sold his first professional stone sculpture within a year, and many more quickly followed.
Entirely self-taught and unbound by formal art school training, Aron lets the shape and energy of the raw stone guide his creative process. “Just let the stone speak to you, and finish the rest,” he says. He strives to honor the subject’s detail without sacrificing the elegance that defines his work.
Kapembeza has exhibited in over 50 shows, with work held in private, corporate, and public collections across Africa, Europe, Canada, Asia, and the United States. He has been featured in exclusive galleries and fair trades in the Netherlands—where he held a solo exhibition and became the first Zimbabwean sculptor to offer lessons in Europe. In 2007, he completed a three-month residency at Gallery De Buffel in the Netherlands.
In North America and Asia, Aron’s work appears in permanent collections at venues such as the Muttart Conservatory and various botanical gardens, including one of the largest in Korea. His sculptures are a feature at many major exhibitions and garden installations across the U.S. and Canada.
At home in Zimbabwe, Aron continues to mentor apprentices and support the artistic community, promoting more than 100 local artists. Whether working in his homeland or abroad, he teaches workshops and shares his creative process with students, patrons, and collectors. His passion for stone and his generosity of spirit make him both an accomplished artist and a valued ambassador of Zimbabwean sculpture.
www.zimibwesculptures.com
Stephen Lee
Dallas, Texas
I am a Korean-American sculptor based in Dallas, Texas. I studied sculpture at Occidental College in Los Angeles and earned a BS in Industrial Design from California State University, Long Beach. For over two decades, I built a career designing consumer products and retail experiences for brands such as KitchenAid, JCPenney, and Samsung.
In 2021, I returned to sculpture and have since gained growing recognition. My small-scale works have been featured at prominent art fairs across the country, including the Hamptons Fine Art Fair, Art Wynwood in Miami, and the Palm Beach Show. I’ve also earned public art commissions in both Texas and Oklahoma, and my large-scale sculpture was selected for inclusion in the juried exhibition Texas Sculpts IV.
In addition to being represented by Siempre Avanti Gallery in Atlanta and Modrn Earth Gallery in Michigan, I continue to expand my practice, exploring both intimate and monumental forms through steel, mortar, and other raw materials.
Artist Statement
I have a keen curiosity about a fundamental language that transcends words – something innate and shared across all art forms. Like musical scales or food recipes, this language can evoke powerful emotions when arranged with mastery.
Within this framework, I’ve been exploring a theme I call “elegance of complexity” through three-dimensional expressions. Layering notions such as tension, transition, pattern, dichotomy, and codependence with qualities like fragility, uncertainty and possibility, I offer a personal view of the world which I embrace.
A recent piece titled Intersignificance (mortar mix and steel) draws motifs from architectural ruins, scaffolding, and plant life. It explores the idea that meaning and existence arise not in isolation, but through relationships—however painful, precarious, or unpredictable they may be.
In the spirit of exploration, I build as though I’m drawing in space. Steel and mortar are among my primary materials, allowing me to hand-fabricate in a painterly and intuitive manner while editing with freedom. This approach helps me avoid rigidity and unlock a primordial sense of flow, resulting in organic forms rich with handmade textures—structures that I hope embody authenticity and vulnerability.
Carmen Menza
Dallas, Texas
I am an interdisciplinary artist creating fine art and technology-based installations that integrate light, language, interactive software, and music composition. My work explores themes of time, perception, social and political climates, and the threads that connect us as humans.
My installations have been commissioned or exhibited by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas Aurora Light & Sound Festival, Meow Wolf, UTSW Clements University Hospital, Baylor University Medical Center, RO2 Art, Carneal Simmons Contemporary Art, Octavia Art Gallery, and others.
My films have screened at the Dallas International Film Festival, Dallas Video Festival, and on KERA. I’ve been honored to receive a TACA New Works Fund Grant, an Arts Activate Grant from the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, and a residency at The Cedars Union. I’m also a founding member of Texas Vignette, a non-profit dedicated to amplifying the work of women artists across Texas. I hold a BFA in jazz guitar performance from the University of North Texas.
Artist Statement
I am continually interested in the way we perceive the world around us and the persistent qualities of both beauty and vulnerability in life. I create work that investigates what and how we see by challenging perceptions, perspectives, and assumptions.
My practice explores time, space, perception, and human connection through light, interactive visuals, video, music composition, and text. While I use a wide range of materials—including glass, neon, LED lights, resin, mirrors, prisms, acrylics, and video projection—light is my primary medium.
I aim to transform materials into something unexpected: embedding artificial light within objects, projecting video, or harnessing natural light through translucent, dichroic, and reflective films. Whether it's sunlight, LEDs, or projections, my works change in response to their surroundings, the available light, and the viewer’s position—activating reflections and shafts of color on nearby surfaces. Capturing light’s ephemeral nature through optical materials allows my sculptures to respond and evolve as time and light unfold around them.
“We believe in the power of sculpture to move people—and in the importance of lifting up Texas artists whose work deserves to be seen and celebrated.”
Amy Darrow,
Exhibition Chair, Texas Sculpts IV
Fari Rahimi
Denton, Texas
I am a contemporary sculptor using a range of media and technology. I’ve worked largely with glass and steel, but also have included processes like 3D printing and unexpected materials like hospital supplies in my pieces. The elemental significance of material drives my work. For instance, steel and glass represent the conflicting themes of oppression and empowerment from my feminist perspective. The contrast of these materials elicit opposing feelings of power and fragility from the viewer.
In addition to materiality, community is also important to my work. I was in the first cohort of artists at the Cedars Union, a nonprofit arts incubator in Dallas. While I was there I met artists, curators, collectors and supporters, which led to collaborations and connections that are still going strong.
In 2022–23, I co-founded a group called Woman Life Freedom, a collective of artists focused on showing solidarity with women of Iran. We had an exhibition at the Irving Arts Center, the Fort Worth Arts Center, and Tin District Arts Gallery in 2023. Over 35 artists participated, and the events were covered by media such as the Dallas Morning News, Glasstire, and NBC. Later in 2023, members of Woman Life Freedom gathered together to paint a mural on the side of Full City Rooster at 1810 S. Akard St. in Dallas.
Being an Iranian woman is a challenging experience, and banding together has eased the feelings of loss and longing we share.
Larry Solomon
Plano, Texas
After high school, I had the opportunity to study fine art in Paris, France. When I returned to South Africa, I studied at the Johannesburg School of Art and began my career in graphic design and silk screening. As I moved into management roles, my fine art practice took a back seat to creative leadership within the corporate world.
In 2013, I stepped down from an executive position in Corporate America to fully invest in my God-given talents as a painter and sculptor. As a pragmatist, I love to create art that serves a purpose and meets the needs of my clients. I find great joy in helping others bring their artistic ideas to life, and I welcome opportunities for commissioned work.
In support of my passion for service, I donate 50% of all art sales to My Possibilities, a nonprofit organization serving individuals with special needs.
Artist Statement
My life's mission is: To use my God-given talents to enrich the lives of others, helping them realize their full potential.
Kat Warwick
Dallas, Texas
Kat is a local sculptor, raised in Garland and currently residing in Dallas. She holds a BFA from the University of North Texas and has continued to educate herself in the fine art of sculpture through a variety of avenues. In addition to her studio practice—creating works for exhibitions, collectors, and public art programs—Kat is also an event sculptor who loves to showcase her art form in unexpected places.
She teaches stone carving at the Creative Arts Center of Dallas and, in 2023, joined their Board of Directors as a teacher liaison. She also serves as manager and curator of the Center’s gallery program.
Kat’s works of art can be found on loan and in permanent collections across the metroplex. She routinely exhibits her work and has a strong record of receiving awards for her sculpture. Kat hopes you enjoy her work and that it inspires you to create your own stories and contemplate wonderful possibilities.
Artist Statement
The concept of a beginning and an end… or a self-perpetuating cycle... Each day we exist, we are new; or are we? Are we simply a collection of our former selves, our yesterdays devoid of future possibilities? Are we a collection of our hopes for our future, our tomorrows, independent of where we came from? What do we do to utilize our past in the influence of our future?
Both sculptures, Tomorrow and Yesterday, sit atop nests of their former selves—shards of past lessons, loves, and adventures now supporting who they choose to be today. Each proudly displays the scars of becoming, side by side with their polished and perfect present self.
Tomorrow was the first in my line of egg- and seed-shaped sculptures steeped in questions and celebrations of who we are, were, and have the potential to become. Yesterday was my second.
This series continues to grow and develop, and I welcome you to visit my site to see more of these simple yet provocative works.
Larry Whiteley
Dallas, Texas
Larry Whiteley is a Dallas-based sculptor who transforms brass and steel into living, breathing works of art. Rooted in the wild, textural beauty of Texas and shaped by a reverence for nature’s quiet details, his work blurs the boundaries between art, architecture, and design. Known for turning raw metal into delicate forms—nests, branches, trees, and birds—Whiteley brings a poetic sensibility to the functional and the ornamental alike.
Over the years, his talent has caught the attention of top designers, architects, and visionaries across the country, leading to an impressive body of commissioned work. His ability to collaborate—deeply and intuitively—has made him a trusted partner for those seeking truly one-of-a-kind pieces.
In 2023, he partnered with Daniel Hourchard to craft a custom brass and steel floral LED chandelier that became the heart of a private garden. That same year, Tanner Morgan of Morgan Madison Design commissioned a suite of bespoke elements for their Kips Bay Showhouse space—including patinated brass hardware, brass shelving, a sculptural bird on a branch, and a petite nest that captured the spirit of the home.
A pivotal moment came in 2021, when John Bobbitt of Bobbitt & Company asked Whiteley to create a chandelier for the entry of the Kips Bay Designers Showhouse Dallas. He unveiled an 18-foot inverted Tree Chandelier, suspended from its roots, that became the talk of the design community. That singular work led to further commissions in Beaver Creek, Houston, Horseshoe Bay, and Tampa. Whiteley has continued to be a celebrated contributor to the annual Kips Bay Dallas Showhouse.
His long-standing relationship with design entrepreneur Brian Bolke began in the early 2000s, when Whiteley's nests and floral forms were added to the Forty Five Ten home collection. Their collaboration deepened over the years, culminating in Whiteley’s design of the signature greenhouse structure and fixtures for The Conservatory at Hudson Yards in New York. When Bolke expanded to Dallas and Houston, Whiteley was again entrusted to carry the aesthetic forward in those locations.
In 2016, he was commissioned to fabricate ten Juliet railings for the flagship Forty Five Ten building in downtown Dallas, creating sculptural focal points that frame the building’s façade with elegance and strength.
Whiteley has also contributed custom work to landmark spaces such as the Ritz-Carlton Dallas Spa, Crescent Court Spa, Four Seasons Las Colinas, Sheraton Dallas, Reunion Tower, ExxonMobil Campus, Devon Energy HQ, and the George W. Bush Presidential Center, among many others. His pieces can be found in private homes and public spaces across the United States.
In 2017, Whiteley’s contributions were recognized with the Artist/Craftsman of the Year award from AIA Dallas—an honor that speaks to his rare ability to fuse beauty, craftsmanship, and architectural integrity.
Whether he’s crafting a chandelier that feels grown rather than built, or a single brass branch resting like poetry on a windowsill, Larry Whiteley brings a spirit of collaboration, wonder, and transformation to every project he touches.
Artist Statement
Larry Whiteley draws inspiration from Texas’s wild ranches and serene public gardens. He uses old black-and-white photographs as portals to the past and as a foundation for his storytelling through sculpture. Metal is his medium of choice, transforming rigid materials like brass and steel into delicate, organic forms.
His work bridges the natural and the surreal, creating sculptures that feel both grounded and untamed. Whether it’s a chandelier shaped like an upside-down tree or railings that feel like climbing vines, his work embodies tension and harmony between strength and fragility, the natural and the manmade.
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Above: Kelly Steller Hrad, Tree of Life, 3-dimensional oil on canvas, 36 x 24 inches; Kavita Patil-Doddamane, Divinity, acrylic on canvas - texture and drip technique, 24 x 36 inches; Marie Renfro, Sping-a-Bloom, collage, 15 x 15 inches, framed.
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