Luke Heimbigner
Biography
Luke Heimbigner makes cast and fabricated metal sculptures using the forms of forgotten and discarded items. He was born in 1982 in Bozeman, Montana. His grandfather may have hoped to make an engineer of young Luke by bringing him old lawnmower engines to take apart and rebuild; instead, it was Luke’s artistic imagination that was sparked by the functional beauty of those machines. In 2006 he graduated from the University of Montana at Missoula with a BFA in sculpture and a minor in media arts. After moving to California in 2007 up until 2015 Luke was a metal chaser at Artworks Foundry in Berkeley. He was a captain on the foundry pour crew, helped with mold making and assisted with sculpture installation as well. At Artworks he met the late Steven DeStaebler and worked closely with him as an assistant in the creation of the bronze sculpture for which DeStaebler is internationally famous. After a few years of working free-lance, Luke began working at Scientific Art Studio in Richmond creating engaging artistic creations for children and adults throughout the Bay Area and beyond. Today Luke is once again pursuing his own personal sculpture and artistic projects. Luke has shown at galleries in the Bay Area, Montana, Washington, and Arizona. Alongside DeStaebler, Heimbigner numbers Richard Serra and Martin Puryear among the sculptors whose work he admires.
Statement
Collecting has always been a part of my life. This began with toys, baseball cards and music and evolved into the materials for my sculptures. The idea of reusing or repurposing an object that is overlooked or discarded interests me. The feeling of discovering something unseen ignites my creative process and propels my artwork. Therefore I scavenge, always on the lookout for materials, objects, or parts to make the next piece. The clash of architecture and construction versus the natural world is my point of departure. I try to mimic and abstract what I see, constructing invented objects and structures using my collection of materials found or fabricated.
