Terry Klausman: A Retrospective

Opening Reception: Friday, September 8, 5:30 – 8:00pm

Terry Klausman Artist Talk Canceled

Terry Klausman’s work was accepted into the archive in 2018. While Klausman has been an artist all his life, and received accolades for his work in High school, he never attended college. A native of Barberton Ohio, he is a master welder and fabricator who chose to return to a career in art later in life. He began exhibiting in 2010 after taking on a studio in the Summit Artspace complex, and in the ensuing years he has created a successful career as an artist with inclusion in more than fifty group invitational or juried exhibitions, seven solo exhibitions, and numerous awards. His work is part of the permanent collection of SUMMA, the Cleveland Clinic, The Main Branch Library in Akron, Montfiore Hospital – Bronx NY, SD Meyers Corporation, and the private collections of Donna Kohl(formerly of Cleveland) , Thomas Arlen Wagner and a private collection in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Klausman began making art in 2010 by using the materials of his trade, fabricated and welded steel sculptures. At the point where he was beginning to successfully exhibit and sell this work in 2011, he suffered an accident at his job that affected his right hand, and was unable to weld for five months afterwards. Terry began making drawings at this point using his non-dominant hand or left hand. He developed an original way of mark making which was meant to be abstract and somewhat random, but which others have likened to barbed wire. What began as a negative experience led to a whole new body of work which grew and changed. The intricate, obsessive-colored pencils drawings, now made using his right hand, have been described as “So precise and deft that it is difficult to see that colored pencils are the medium. …we immediately think of Pochoir prints or silk screens…”

Over the years these drawings have developed and changed. The addition of solid geometric shapes in counterpoint to the delicate lines added depth and perspective to the drawings. Some series are bolder and seem to reference calligraphy, while others imitate grasses, and have a very Asian feel to them. When Klausman recovered, he began welding again and producing different series of sculptures which are intended for both indoor and outdoor use. Both drawings and sculptures have been very successful for Terry as an artist, and both are in some of the collections mentioned above. A variety of his drawings from the beginnings to the most recent as well as several of the steel sculptures will be on display as part of this retrospective.

The Archives is Expanding!

The building that AAWR has shared for the past twenty-four years with The Sculpture Center will soon be occupied solely by the Artists Archives. AAWR is extremely excited about the prospect of more than doubling its home gallery space, and its capacity to showcase its collection, which now numbers close to 10,000 works by 100 artists. To celebrate on September 8, we are presenting two solo inaugural Archived Artists exhibitions simultaneously in separate gallery spaces. Creative Impulse: Archived Artist Dale Goode, and Terry Klausman, A Retospective, will both open on the same night and each artist will be attending his reception. While some minimal construction will take place before the September exhibitions open to turn the current AAWR office into a gallery, when the AAWR closes down for its winter break in the rest of the construction to join all of the three gallery spaces together will be completed.