CIRCLE DRIVE SCULPTURE CONTEST FINALISTS

Ray Chi is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University of Michigan. Recently, he was awarded a public art commission for the East Milwaukee Public Library and is currently focused on researching and rethinking playscape design as a viable site for abstract and interactive sculpture. Chi’s work has been exhibited in galleries and theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and throughout the Midwest. He has been awarded grant funding through the Wisconsin Arts Board and the Mary L. Nohl Fund for Individual Artists, and was named “Artist of the Year” by the Milwaukee Arts Board in 2005. He currently works as an associate lecturer in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Click here to check out a video of "Shifting Perspective."

Joshua Hunt is a Wisconsin-based artist that regularly participates in exhibitions regionally and nationally. Originally from Green Bay, Hunt earned a BFA in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Currently in his second year of teaching, he serves as a visual art instructor for the Mequon-Thiensville School District. Professionally, Hunt is represented by the Comb Gallery in Milwaukee and serves as the Art Gallery Curator of the National Order of the Arrow Museum. In his personal work, Hunt is interested in themes involving color theory, contemporary culture, and the history of abstraction. Hunt will collaborate with designer Casey Carney in his sculpture design for the Circle Drive. With a background in architecture and renewable resources, Carney has developed the site plans and modeling for the sculpture and surrounding landscaping. Carney will serve as the lead technician. As a professional designer, Carney works for Kowalske Kitchen and Bath in Delafield; previously, Carney was a cooperative partner of the former Fox Glove Gallery in Riverwest.

Click here to check out a video rendering of "Color Space."

Using birds as a point of departure, Don Rambadt explores the relationship of positive and negative space and manipulates this interplay in mixed metals to give the impression of life and movement. After completing his BFA in sculpture and a summer print-making workshop in Italy, Rambadt began sculpting part-time while partnering in the establishment of Vanguard Sculpture Services. In 2001, he began to pursue sculpting and exhibitions full-time. Rambadt also taught an introduction to welded sculpture course at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design from 2000 to 2002. He has volunteered with several organizations that have given him unique, hands-on experience with birds, including the Wisconsin Peregrine Society and at the Milwaukee Public Museum as a bird taxidermist. Rambadt has exhibited his sculptures across the United States and abroad, and his work has been featured 14 times in the Bird's in Art Exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodsen Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Andrew Redington is a professional artist who specializes in three-dimensional work. Born and raised in Wisconsin, he received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin where he studied metalsmithing, woodworking, and sculpture. His artistic practice spans the spectrum of scale from bodily adornment to utilitarian design and monumental public sculpture. Redington is a nationally exhibiting artist, with exhibits ranging from the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to the Bibro Gallery in New York, New York. Recently his work was accepted into EcoCreations Six at The Muse Gallery in Longmont, Colorado, and the Members Gallery at the Furniture Society International Conference in Port Townsend, Washington. He has been a finalist for several public art commissions and recently completed a monumental public work for the Thelma Sadofff Center for the Arts in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Redington has held a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh since 1995.

Click here to check out a video of "Transition Space."

Nizar Schaller is an artist with training in both the United Kingdom and South Africa. Exploring relationships between natural and built environments, Schaller takes a philosophical approach to his creative processes and design principles. Structural interventions are used to echo the natural environment, creating a place for open discourse and social exchange. His work exists in its natural state, combining raw materials with manmade to question the perception of natural environments. Schaller holds a Bachelor’s of Architectural Studies from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and is a Master of Architectural Studies candidate from the Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. He has worked as a designer and architect contributing to both residential and commercial projects; most recently, he designed and built an architectural folly on the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Campus in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Recent awards include the Taliesin Fellows Scholarship Award.