San Jose Mercury News: Artist

8/8/2019 San Jose Mercury News: Artist

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GARY EYES/[ ' iERCURYEWS HOTOGRAPHSDavidMiddlebrookisplaysHeadof Dogon,"bove, t he- i r i tonluseum fArt n SantaClara. hesculpiorvorks i tharange fstone ndbronze, elow,nweights om50 pourrdso 50 ons, npieces eiv eethigh o 18 eetor mor: . i - le 'soneof our ocal r t reasures hohasan nternat ionaleoutat rcn."aidPreston etcalf .urator f artat heTr i ton.


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"Ifyou can magtneit, youcando t.My greatest ssetsthat I canphysi"ullysee iecesinishedin mymind.Thenyouworkbackwards."

- DauidMiddlebroole,' artist

SEEAVIDIDDTEBROOK'SCUIPTURES"TheNaturefThings" ill eondisplayt heTriton useumfArt, 505Warburtonve., anta lara,hrough ec. .Themuseumsopenrom 1 .m.o5p.m. uesdayshrough undays,ntil p.m. hursdays.hemuseumsclosedlVondaysnd olidays.iddlebrook'siecesisplayedn hegroundsf heMontalvort sCenternSaratogail l emainorabout year.

. By LindaGoldstonIgoldst on@mercu Ynews.c mAfter12 oursa day n hisstudio,DavidMiddlebrookcan'tget to sleepat night unless e workson sculptingin hismind,eitheronapiecealreadyunderway or oneofhis many deasor anewone.Whenhegoesonvaca-tionwith liis wife,Lita, he comes ackwith his sketch-book filled with concepts or future0NtlNE sculpture rojects.See ideo f Ana yet lie never feelsthat he'ssculptor avid w.orking.e thinksof t.more. sapas-Middlebrook slonand.he'saught'n ts grlq - Pas-"t *** sion or his art, his world and he re-r.r.rtyn"*t. sponsibilityof using the art to helpcom/eitra. preserveheworld."It is equallv he iob of our artistsandengineerso maintain he st"ewardshipf ourplanetto preJerveour children'snheritance," e said'"Theiobof the artist s to keeppressure n hosen power o"alwayrbe awareof the lbuses,and he ob of theengi-neeriopointouthow o make heplanetbetter'"Middlebrook's onstantneed o create hingshashim in the unusualpositionof simultaneously avinga

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GARY EYES/[,lERCURYEWS HOTOGRAPHDavidMiddlebrookndhisassistant,nthonv eixeira,orkon a sculpturet hisLosGatos orkshop. iddlebrookisshowing xhibi t ionst heTri tonMuseum fArt n SantaClara nd heMontalvo rtsCenternSaratoga.


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cu ptorContinuedfromPagemajor show,"The Nature ofThings," at the Triton Mu-seum of Art in Santa Claraand a show on the groundsof the Montalvo Arts Centerin Saratoga.Seven hundredpeople ,crowded into theopeningof the Triton showon Oct.1."He's one of our local arttreasureswhohasan nterna-tional reputation,"saidPres-ton Metcalf, curator of art atthe Triton. "Davidhas someprofound "deas bouthuman-ity's impact on the Earth,what we'vedone o our worldand what our future mav beif wedon't start taking b6ttercareofour resources."Middlebrook, 66, recentlyretired as an art nrofessoratSanJoseState,after teachingthere or 36years.That'sgivenhim a clearpathto pursuehispassions;which include hisfamily. The couple ives n theSantaCruz Mountains,whereMiddlebrook has maintainedhisstudiosince1974.

Artists are oftenknown ortheir egos,but Middlebrookand his wife have never hada problemwith that. Shelsareal estate broker and "wedon't compete n any way,"Lita Ruble-Middlebrookaid.' "He's ust doingwhat hewas meant to do. what hisdestiny was," she said. "Hewasborn to be an artist."Early signs of that tdlentappearedwhenMiddlebrookwas a boy in Jackson,Mich.When he was 6, he turned asandbox nto a city, usingpa-per clips o fashionantennasand playing cards as doorsfor garages. His mother,Mary, now 90 yearsold, wasthrilled and alwaysmanagedto get whatevermatbrials heneeded fter hat sohe couldfollow his artistic dreams.-"That's when my careerstarted," Middlebrook said."In grade school, was the

onewho wasalwaysasked odraw the turkey and the Pil-grimson he blackboard."Driveneven hen,hemadeEagleScoutat age13and seta recordat the timefor meritbadges arned 57.By htgh school,he led 4bit of a double ife asan artistand a ock.Heworkedon artwhenhe couldandplayedonhis school'svarsity football

andbasketballeams.Healsowas on the track team andwon a basketball cholarshinto Albion College n Michi-gan,wherehe continuedhisdual interests. He majoredin art and was captainof thetrack team.Todaj',his work-out is an artistic one in his

studio.After earninghis mastersof fine arts at the Universityof Iowa n 1970,Middlebrookbecamea pioneer n the ce-ramic art movement n the1970s ndslowlydVolvedntothe sculptorhe is today.Hiswork reflects he nfluence fhis travelsaround he world,including stints as visitingartist at the University ofDarwin in Australia and theUniversityof Natal in SouthAfrica. It alsocelebrateshewonderof the naturalworldaroundus.Middlebrooks proud hathis childrenare carrying onhis devotion o art. His old-eStson,Jason,s a successful

WHAT'SOURASSION?TheMercury ews ill eriodically rofilenterestingpas-sions"nd hepeopleehindthem. hareour [email protected] in New York; a daugh-ter is an actresswhorecentlywrote and starred in a one-womanplay.A stepsons atenuredprofessorof art atFoothill eo[ese. He and hiswife brought-half a dozenchildren to the marriase:They eachhad three fror"n-pre\,'lousmarrrage.

He creditsa trip to North-ern Itaiy in 1983with chang-ing his ihoice of mediums.A'master of ceramics,he saidhe struggledwith the insta-bility of the material andfound it to be limiting. In astudio n Italy, he discoveredstoneand odayworkswith arangeof stoneand bronze ndimensions rom 50 noundsto 50 tons, on pieces- few{eethrgh o thosesoaring18Ieetor more.' "If youcan magine t, youcando t," Middlebrook aid."My greatestasset s that Icanphysically eepieces ln-ished n my mind. Then youwork backwards.Every stepofthe way,youhave o haveaway o engineert."One of the major piecesin the Triton show, Appari-tion," was nspiredby a hugeIoghecameacrosswalking nthe woodsaroundhis house.He couldsee thesoulofthewoodor the soulofthe tree"in t. He owed he 500-noundlog back to his studio-sohecouldmakemoldsof t.But for him, it's all aboutthe nextproject."We all have this unob-tainable thing we're after,"he said. I guessf we find it,wetredone."In reality,"the goalkeepschangingand you never getthere.You alwayskeep ais-ing he bar higher."Contact indaGoldstonut 408-920-5862.

Visitors t heMontalvortsCenternSaratosaheckoutDavid iddlebrook'sHavwire."iddlebro6k'srthasspannedheglobeor hepa-st0years.

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