Biography
Jack Gibson
began his sculptor’s journey by creating three-dimensional bronze wildlife pieces inspired by studying creatures in their habitats: a majestic bear, Rocky Mountain big horns and the eagle, among others.
Jack’s friendship with First Nations people developed when he took a keen interest in native art, and he rendered a masked Kwaguilth dancer in bronze. Jack has created reproductions for the First Nations on a commissioned basis, but does not market their cultural images. The experience of restoring and casting 10,000-year-old artifacts for the University of British Columbia sparked his interest in that field.
After operating his own art gallery in the Vancouver, BC, area, Jack and his wife moved to the Sunshine Coast in 2009 and set up his studio and showpiece home in Garden Bay. The movement of the human body in dance fascinated the sculptor for years and led to the creation of Yonel, a life-size bronze figure of a dancer arched in a warm-up stretch. It became a focal point for his garden and is joined in his hilly front yard by another dancing figure in bronze, the Dream Duster.
Serene
An artwork fosters many tumultuous emotions. In this fluid piece, Serene, the body language of the woman in foetal pose stirs that emotion in the viewer. There is a strong connection between this piece and an earlier bronze, titled Sarah, of a pregnant woman.
After a visit to Cuba in the late 1990s at a time when Havana was restoring its artistic heritage, Jack became intrigued with two-dimensional, cold-cast bronze reliefs. When he returned to Canada he developed a relief of swimming salmon that now forms part of a waterfall in his outdoor sculpture garden.
Jack’s work has been shown in respected galleries in North America: Buschlen Mowatt Galleries and Howe Street Gallery in Vancouver, Webster Gallery in Calgary and galleries in California and Oregon.
A reclining nude in bronze is titled She, the creator of all things, and this fine piece has been rendered in bronze and in silver for a client.
He has depicted a figure in bronze for one of California’s major wineries, and he has plans to develop his swimming salmon theme into a spiral water fountain. Mermaids, titled Coralita, were also inspired by a client, giving Jack an opportunity to work with new and contemporary patinas on the bronze ladies.