Travis Townsend
Media: Sculpture, Wood, Mixed Media
Travis Townsend creates device-looking sculptures made primarily from reclaimed materials. These process-oriented works take a winding path to completion, evolving from continuously redrawn sketches and traveling through many transformations before being cut apart, reassembled, and reworked. Parts are often transplanted, left behind, or recycled.
Travis studied at Kutztown University and Virginia Commonwealth University (MFA, 2000) and has presented solo exhibitions at The Parachute Factory, Washington State University, Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati), Bloomsburg University (PA), Doppler PDX (Portland), the Southwest School of Art (San Antonio), Weston Gallery (Cincinnati), and the New Arts Program (PA). His work has been included in over 100 group exhibitions and appeared in the publications New American Paintings, The Manifest International Drawing Annual, and The Penland Book of Woodworking.
Travis has been a resident artist at Oregon College of Art and Craft, Penland School of Crafts, The Vermont Studio Center, and Peters Valley School of Craft, and his awards include an Emerging Artist Grant from the American Craft Council, a fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council, three sculpture grants from the Virginia A. Groot Foundation, and a recent professional development grant from the Great Meadows Foundation.
He lives in Lexington, KY and teaches drawing, concepts, and criticism at Eastern Kentucky University. Ongoing projects include collaborative sculptures, drawings, and installations with the SmithTownsendCollaborative.
