May 1, 2004: Headlines: COS - Turkey: Fine Arts: Art: Salt Lake Tribune: David Delthony spent two years in Turkey as a member of the Peace Corps then moved to West Berlin and earned a design degree from the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Turkey: Peace Corps Turkey : The Peace Corps in Turkey: May 1, 2004: Headlines: COS - Turkey: Fine Arts: Art: Salt Lake Tribune: David Delthony spent two years in Turkey as a member of the Peace Corps then moved to West Berlin and earned a design degree from the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts

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David Delthony spent two years in Turkey as a member of the Peace Corps then moved to West Berlin and earned a design degree from the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts

David Delthony spent two years in Turkey as a member of the Peace Corps then moved to West Berlin and earned a design degree from the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts

David Delthony spent two years in Turkey as a member of the Peace Corps then moved to West Berlin and earned a design degree from the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts

Wharton: Escalante nurtures artists

Tom Wharton

Tribune Columnist

Tom Wharton

Salt Lake Tribune Columnist

ESCALANTE -- The Aquarius Plateau looms above David and Brigitte Delthony's home and studio near the entrance to Escalante State Park. The old sawmill where the artists have lived since 1996 is much different from their residence in Germany.

David uses a chainsaw, laminated wood and loads of creativity to sculpt wooden chairs and desks. He grew up in New York and graduated from Haverford College before spending two years in Turkey as a member of the Peace Corps. From there, David moved to West Berlin and earned a design degree from the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts.

He uses woods such as cherry and black walnut for his amazing chairs and desks, which are ergonomically correct works of functional art. David receives a minimum of $5,000 for one of his pieces. There is a desk set for sale in the Escalante studio that costs $15,000.

It takes David a minimum of 2 1/2 weeks and as long as three months to complete one work.

"The focus of my work has always been the dialogue between functional and aesthetic values, and I have tried to incorporate and balance these in each object," wrote David in a 2002 Utah Arts Council brochure. "As a furniture artist, I sculpt with the material wood, investigating interior space and defining exterior boundaries. Simultaneously, I utilize the inherent qualities of wood and my knowledge of ergonomics to create organic forms, which engage the user through function and my personal visual language."

Brigitte, a German native, uses pottery and sculpture to celebrate prehistoric cultures from Utah, Africa and Europe.

"I sense common links in the human spirit and its artistic expression," she wrote. "In my own work, I attempt to find and visualize these ideas, creating a certain affinity between my work and that of earlier cultures."

How the couple ended up in a remote corner of southern Utah, far from major galleries where they can display their work, offers a commentary on a changing world.

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The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 brought big changes.

Still, when the Delthonys came to the Southwest on vacation in 1993 and 1994, there was little thought of moving here.

"The second year, we saw this old sawmill for sale and we bought the property as an investment," said David.

The couple moved to Escalante in 1996. They built their workshop that year.

Brigitte said coming to Utah just sort of happened.

But the Southwest and the Escalante area fits her style perfectly.

She molds her pottery and sculpture slowly, prefiring in an electric kiln and doing almost everything by hand, avoiding a pottery wheel. The pots are ultimately fired in an outdoor sawdust-fueled fire pit, sometimes for as long as five days.

The hardest thing about living in Escalante as an artist is finding a market. David sells his pieces at galleries in Santa Fe, N.M., and Santa Monica, Calif., and still has a few European customers. Brigitte's work can be seen at the couple's Escalante gallery and often at the Anasazi State Park museum in nearby Boulder. She also teaches classes.

The couple's gallery-workshop is nearly always open, making an interesting stop for travelers enjoying the redrock and alpine country that surrounds Escalante.

wharton@sltrib.com




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Story Source: Salt Lake Tribune

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Turkey; Fine Arts; Art

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