Theater Metal & Light | Clay & Plaster | Drawings | Portraits | Theater | Writings Artist Statement My introduction to technical theater began as a small child when I would assist my mother with film editing, video, sound recording, and lighting in her job as a faculty member of Expressive Arts at Sonoma State University. I later worked my way through college lighting shows for students and visiting artists and found that it was a fun and creative way to make money that also gave me the opportunity to see and work with many artists expressing similar issues as I but with the added element of motion. Theater has the added benefit of being a collaborative art form. My freelance career has allowed me to share in the creative process of many brilliant and dedicated artists and companies including Felix Ruckert Dance Company, Culture Clash, Seattle Repertory Theater, Carroll Burnett, Laurie Anderson, and Cirque Elouise. All of these artists share a rigor and dedication that I have often thought of for inspiration in my own creative process alone in the studio. There is no doubt that years of working creatively in theater and dance has influenced my sculptures. Working so much in dance has allowed me many opportunities to watch the human body in motion. But beyond that, I have gotten to see many many examples of how emotion and honest thought are expressed physically in human form. I believe that the body remains the clearest and most immediate expression of the soul. Furthermore, the complexity of emotion that can be communicated in an art form that uses time as well as space is something that I have grown to envy. It is for this reason that I have increasingly been drawn to projects that involve moving sculptures or puppets. I am excited by what might be a new merging of my two artistic paths and hope to be able to add more projects and photographs to this section of the website in the future. Kindred Gottlieb Berlin, July 3, 2003 Max und Moritz "Chickens" 2002 Max und Moritz "Pipe" 2002 Gender Observations (Lighting Design) 2002 with Felix Rückert