Sentinel, 2022
Carl Billingsley
Ayden, NC
Galvanized steel, aluminum
2’ x 3’ x 12’
Photos by Kyla Willoughby
Artist Statements
For me sculpture is a special means of communication, a way to express some of my thoughts and ideas about the human condition. I usually create abstract sculptures that don’t represent objects, persons, or creatures. More likely, the sculptures are about human activities and ideas that have preoccupied our species for millennia. Ideas such as wayfinding, discovery of the materials and processes that have enabled us to build modern civilization and how those activities and materials are still in use today. I often reference history and technical processes; I always try to show something about how the sculpture was created. In a casting, for instance, I will often leave mold lines visible so that the viewers can understand that the sculpture was cast. When I carve stone or wood, I leave tool marks. I am inspired by my connection as an artist to all artists that have gone before me and all those who will follow. We are part of a great continuum of human history.
About the Artist
Carl Billingsley was born in 1943 in Oklahoma. He writes about his life: “My father was in France with the US Army. He remained in the Army after the war and I became an “Army Brat,” as we were frequently called whenever we moved to a new town. My early experiences as an ‘outsider’ probably made me more comfortable with new ideas and less conventional ways of doing and thinking. When we did return to Fort Sill, our home base in Oklahoma, I spent as much time with my maternal grandparents as possible. I was very close to my granddad who was a carpenter. I went to the jobsite with him whenever possible and it was through helping him and being taught how to build things that I acquired my love of making. When I was about 9 years old, we were posted to Germany. We lived in two different cities during the three years we were there, and I discovered the world of museums, cities, cathedrals, and monuments. It was in Germany that I first really encountered sculpture, I was amazed and awed by what I saw.” Billingsley received an MFA from the School of Fine Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1985. He taught at the School of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Department of Art at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and the School of Art & Design at East Carolina University before retiring in 2014.