Whitmore Boogaerts, a Providence sculptor with a new gallery on the West End, has a degree in civil engineering from Tulane University in Louisiana, and worked for seven years as a civil engineer.
Yet he always knew he wanted to be an artist. “I was always making art, ever since I was a little kid,” he said.
He will hold a formal grand opening at his gallery, the WB Sculpture Studio at 89 Bellevue Ave., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 12 and 13, and he’s invited 16 of his artist friends from Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts to show their works at the same time.
The open house will feature a wide range of artistic creations, from Boogaerts’ own sculptures and mobiles, to the ceramics, photography, glass, furniture, paintings and even pillows and jewelry that fellow artists have created.
In 1990, still employed as an engineer, he began making mobiles after seeing a show in Boston of the work of Alexander Calder (1898-1976), the artist credited with revolutionizing sculpture by making movement a main component. Calder in the early 1930s created what were later called “mobiles.”
Boogearts, 43, so enjoyed working on the mobiles that he decided on a foray into the wider world of sculpture. “Then I bought a welder, and it’s just been non-stop,” he said. After selling several pieces of his work and picking up $3,000 in the process, he gave up his engineering job and has been supporting himself and his family as a full-time sculptor for the last 12 years.
A New York City native, he and his wife, Cali Almy, who teaches at Wheeler School in Providence, came to Rhode Island four years ago after living in Massachusetts for many years. He opened his West End gallery in a former factory building off Dexter Street at the start of the year.
His work combines solidity and movement in a way Calder would appreciate. He uses a lot of metals in his pieces, such as bronze, stainless steel, even old, rusted steel and pipes salvaged from scrap yards. One piece, about three feet tall, is a fish that rocks back and forth on a big spring mounted onto a solid-iron base.
Like most of his sculptures, this one could be used indoors or out and, if the latter, the fish would sway and bounce with the wind. “I like the kinetic,” he said. “It adds energy to it.” Asked where he got the big spring from, Boogaerts said it’s part of an old car and came from an auto salvage yard.
Several of his most striking pieces are in this style, from a spring-mounted stainless steel dog with black wrought-iron wings, looking as if it’s ready to fly, to a dozen pieces that Boogaerts calls “handflowers.” Mounted on a spring, each hand-flower tops a curved iron stem about 5 feet tall, with a stainless steel bloom where the flower should be and a petal on each side. The petals look like open hands.
Boogearts sells his pieces for between $95 and $4,000.
He’s working on a piece now that will be mounted on a garden gate at Children’s Hospital Boston, a bronze, stainless steel and glass creation of swirls, loops and circles. Boogaerts uses colored glass a lot in his pieces because he likes the way the glass can reflect and refract the sunlight, yet another kinetic element.
He came to Providence in part because of the art scene in Rhode Island, but he can see one resource sorely lacking in the renaissance city. “We need a contemporary art museum,” he said. “A building in this city should be that.” Separate from and larger than the galleries at the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University, a modern art museum would be a significant tourist draw, he suggested. “Providence already is putting the word out about its artists.”
After the open house next month, Boogaerts’ gallery will be open by appointment only. More about him and his work can be found on his Web site, www.wb-sculpture.com. •
