Artist captures action, motion, flow of nature

Figure 1
Although sculptor John Searles works primarily in metals, which are heavy and rigid, his work often creates a sense of weightlessness.

The forces of nature can be vast and terrifying, taking the form of tornadoes, volcanoes, and hurricanes. However, these aren’t the norm. For the most part, nature’s actions are gentle and soothing—a stream tumbling down a short waterfall, a refreshingly cool breeze on a warm day, the undulating waves at a waterfront. Capturing the tranquil motions and peaceful flow that many natural processes exhibit is the aim of John Searles, a man of many careers who became a full-time artist.

Searles had anything but a traditional upbringing. Encouraged to paint at a mere 4 years old, he started piano lessons at the same age, violin at 9, and guitar at 14. His family moved to Britain when he was 10 years old and he found himself immersed in the storied land of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Trips to art galleries in London and Paris ensued, imparting a lifelong devotion to the arts.

Not that Searles’ background doesn’t include experience in other fields. Drafted into the United States Air Force in 1972, Searles worked as a Chinese linguist during his four-year stint and later he completed a degree in chemistry. He worked as a paint chemist for several years before taking a job selling lab equipment, and eventually rolled all of those experiences into a new vocation, becoming a full-time artist in 1993.

Working With Nature’s Wonders

Although the many processes needed to mine ores and turn them into useful metals are anything but natural, metals are inherently products of nature. What better medium to use to express natural forces such as wind and waves? To that end, Searles uses his metalworking expertise to create beautiful, flowing ribbons. Although they’re heavy, rigid, and immobile, they have the look of a paper streamer, light and delicate, buffeted by a breeze (see Figure 1).

Related to ribbons are Möbius sculptures. Like the ribbon sculptures he creates, they appear almost weightless, flowing freely on a breeze, but they have a little something extra, a mathematical curiosity: They have just one side. A Möbius strip is made by imparting a half-twist on a strip of material such as paper or metal and joining the ends. Although it appears to have two sides, the half-twist means that this ribbon has one continuous side (see Figure 2).

Another of Searles’ specialties is weaving.

“I started making weavings in paper, from an idea I saw in a book, and later I tried the process in metal,” Searles said. He has found that copper is ideal for this concept. After cutting and weaving copper strips to form a 2-D wall sculpture, he adds something extra (or two somethings extra). First is heat, which he uses to impart color. While the colors that develop are somewhat predictable, it’s not a controlled process.

“I was inspired by raku,” he said, referring to a traditional Japanese pottery-making process in which pottery items are fired at a relatively low temperature and then moved while still hot to a closed container with combustible materials, such as paper or sawdust. The ensuing reaction creates colors and patterns in the pottery’s surface.

In many cases, he adds a third dimension to the formerly 2-D sculpture by adding a series of bends to create a wavy appearance (see Figure 3).

“Many artists make things that are ugly and shocking,” he said. “I prefer beauty, balance, and symmetry.”

John Searles, 269-469-1509, www.searlesart.com

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