roger dorsey, roger dorsey lancaster pa

I worked for 30 years as a geologist and still consider myself a scientist. But I have always considered art an integral part of my life. In poetry and in the visual arts I have expressed my love of the world of the imagination, a world as necessary to me as the empirical reality of science.

Throughout the years I have experimented with various art mediums—watercolors, abstract paintings, collages, wire sculptures and mobiles. However, since my retirement in late 2003, I have concentrated on metal sculpture, creating each one from “found materials.” Working with found materials has added an extra dimension to the creative process for me; happenstance—the fortuitous find—often plays as large a role in the process as do detailed study and design.

As a result, when I’m searching the scrap yard for the perfect piece of metal to give shape and form to an idea for a sculpture, I often find a piece of metal totally different than the shape I have been seeking. The new shape then gives rise to a different piece of sculpture. Either way, the final product derives from objects that were utilitarian in nature. Old machine gears, discarded hayforks, sheared pieces of sheet metal or bent “I” beams, when assembled and welded in just the right way, can be visually pleasing and thought provoking, but because of their genesis, they are always unique.

My sculptures, for the most part, can be best described as nonrepresentational abstract pieces, although some do fall into the category of representational abstract, such as the gesturing Girl in a Copper Dress (above left). Although some are whimsical in nature, such as the Luddites Sabotage the Pancake Machine (right), most are pure abstract forms.