John Geldersma
John Geldersma (born October 16, 1942, in New Orleans, Louisiana) is known for his wooden sculptures of, what he calls, "contemporary tribalism". Life. Geldersma earned a BFA from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (then known as University of Southwestern Louisiana) and a MFA from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. The artist has cited his early immersion in the intersection of such divergent cultures as French, Spanish, African-American, Caribbean, Anglo-Saxon and Native American as a major influence on his art. Geldersma divides his time between his native Louisiana and Colorado. Works. Geldersma has assembled  a body of work over his forty-year career, much of it based out of Lafayette, that can perhaps best be described as spiritually symbolic totems. He began carving totems in 1970, inspired by African art. The masks and totems he sculpted were a collection of symbols joined not only as a design element, but also as an organization of a kind of psyche. The "Spirit Poles" are central to the artist's private mythology and invite meditation and solitary contemplation. Gelderma says, “A lot of these begin to look back you as much as you look at them, especially  the pieces with the eyes. They confront you as well as you confront them. A lot of times I make them so that they are eye level so that you have this kind of confrontation and connection with them. I think they are charged, not only because of me but because there’s something in the wood, and there’s something there.” His "Spirit Poles" are carved, smooth, minimalist, vertical, wooden poles with tapered ends, usually three or more feet long, some on bases. Geldersma works with aspen, pecan, weathered driftwood, and salvaged wood to create totemic poles, cairns, and  tablets. The artist's creative process involves studying the wood and seeing the character of it with its twists and turns. “I don’t like the straight ones. It’s more like a dance, like a ballet when there’s some movement,” says Geldersma. The original shape of the wood often dictates how the totem will ultimately look. Beginning with the raw material, the artist first removes the bark with a knife and then works the piece of wood with a chainsaw to get the rough shape he wants. Using increasingly smaller tools, from grinders down to sandpaper and steel  wool, Geldersma works the wood into his desired form. He then applies color either by painting the totems in bands of bold colors or by burning them to achieve deep rich blacks.