 Martin Luther King (Detail) Clay, 1989 |
 Martin Luther King Kalamazoo, Michagan Bronze, 1989 9' high |
Lisa Reinertson had been creating monumental sculptures cast in bronze at Artworks Foundry since her first major commission: "Martin Luther King, Jr." in Kalamazoo, MI in 1989.
Reinertson earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree at the University of California at Davis where she studied with Robert Arneson, and Manuel Neri. While she was directly and personally influenced by both of them, she has also been strongly influenced by the figurative traditions in painting and sculpture. Her work combines a realism rooted in the humanist figurative tradition in art with a contemporary expression of social and psychological content.
In 1989, for example Reinertson was selected in a national competition to create a memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King in Kalamazoo, MI. The artist believed Dr. King would not want to be portrayed as a lone hero on a pedestal, but as a great leader of a multitude of people who engaged in the great nonviolent Civil Rights Movement for equality and justice in America. She depicted Dr. King striding forward wearing a minister's robe. Covering the robe are images sculpted in bas-relief showing historical images from the Civil Rights Movement. The artist, who's father marched with Dr. King, wanted both to capture the spirit of the man and for the sculpture to be and inspirational and educational reminder to people of the historic and ongoing issues of racial and social justice.
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Reinertson's sculpture has been exhibited nationally and internationally including one person exhibitions at the Dorothy Weiss Gallery, San Francisco, the Natsoulas Gallery, CA, Santa Clara University, University of the Pacific, and CSU, Chico. Her work has been in numerous invitational exhibitions in Museums and Galleries including: the Oakland Museum Sculpture Court, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the California Crafts Museum, the National Museum of Ceramic Art, the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, the Air Gallery in London, and the IV Concorso Nazional Della Ceramica D'Arte in Savone, Italy.
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Since her Martin Luther King
Commission in 1989, Reinertson has completed many public and private bronze art
commissions including portraits of Senator Dianne Feinstein, San Francisco City Hall, and
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, State Capitol. Her monumental works include a nine by
fourteen foot sculpture, "March to Manengon," a memorial to the Chamoro people
of Guam who endured forced marches to concentration camps during WWII, completed in 1994.
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Two pieces may be viewed on the grounds of U.C. Medical Center in Sacramento - dancing dogs and a mother holding a child, a life size bronze created in 1992.
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"Valley Harvest," commissioned by the City of Vacaville depicts a fruit rancher and his daughter harvesting pears. This over life size bronze is located in the center of Old Downtown Vacaville and was installed in 1995.
This year, Reinertson completed a new monument to Dr. Martin Luther King for the City of Riverside California. This seven foot figure of Dr. King, in front of City Hall, strides forward with two children at his side. This work, like her original, includes images in bas-relief depicting the history of the Civil Rights Movement.
Currently, Reinertson resides in Davis, CA,
and is working on a "Mother and Child Sculpture Garden" for the City of Palm
Desert. This project will include bronze central figures, desert animal sculptures cast in
terrazzo, a pebble mosaic, and site specific landscape design.
For residential, corporate and public commissions, please call 510-644-2735 or e-mail info@artworksfoundry.com
