Up Close With Wire Magician CW Roelle
Friday, May 28, 2010
CW Roelle is a visual artist who lives in the Mount Hope neighborhood of Providence. He is known for his highly realistic, richly textured pencil drawings and his breathtakingly intricate wire drawings. Camilla Hawthorne caught up with him at his Olneyville studio.
How long have you been creating wire drawings?
The first time I used wire was in 1997; it was the second semester of my junior year of college. I was taking a lot of life drawing classes, when one day I drew the model and all of a sudden I wanted to reach into the paper and grab the lines of the drawing with my hands and move them around. That night I began redrawing my classwork with wire.
How long does it take to complete a wire drawing?
Some pieces may take a couple of hours. I have worked up to four months on one piece, but most medium-sized pieces take about two to three weeks. It’s funny; I get the “How long does it take?” question a lot for the wire stuff but never for my pencil drawings, which I don't do many of because they take a really, really long time.
Do you have a favorite subject matter?
I use a lot of photos from the Teens and Twenties for source material, silent movie stills especially. They work great because they are like candid shots of people doing things. If it weren't for the movie stills I'd have to search through a million photos of people smiling at the camera.
How has your art evolved over time?
I think my art is mostly about the evolution of itself. I can look at a piece from three years ago and really tell how much stronger the work is now and hopefully, I will be able to say the same thing three years in the future. I have no idea where it is leading but I'm excited to see how it improves. I'd very much like to be working on a larger scale, and I'd also like to create more elaborate, narrative series of pieces.
What have been the benefits and challenges of being an artist in Rhode Island?
The benefits of Rhode Island for me are the people that I know and the friends that I have, many of whom are very good artists. It’s always a treat to see what they are working on. One of the main challenges is that in the past 10 years, art in Rhode Island seems to have retreated back into its cave a little. Great stuff is still being made, but it is less accessible. More galleries close then open these days, and putting on your own show is increasingly difficult in the post–Station-fire days of the state.
CW Roelle’s work can be seen at Frog and Toad, in Providence. He will also have a show at Craftland in October. For more information, visit his website at www.cwroelle.com. He welcomes appointments to visit his studio in Olneyville.
