ERIC SCHULTZ

Eric Schultz is a found-object sculptor.  His works are the sum of their parts.  The same could be said of Schultz.

Sum:  Schultz’s first assemblage sculpture, at 15, was a dragonfly made of aluminum flashing and washing machine parts. He pursued an arts education, earning a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Temple University’s Tyler School of the Arts.  For the last 25+ years, he’s been using lost and discarded parts—including trash—to create a range of works, from colossal robots to small animals. For the large-scale, public commissions, his studio has attracted thousands of collaborators from dumpster-divers and “conscious collectors” who donated materials, to artists wanting to join in the creation. Schultz has shown in any number of craft shows and exhibits, from “Upcycle” to the Ellarslie Open (NJ’s premiere annual juried show, which he won four years in a row).  His range of works have also been shown at or are in the collections of the Noyce Museum of Art, Grounds for Sculpture, Chapin School, Lawrenceville School, the Cherry Hill Children’s Museum, and Philadelphia’s Art Gallery at City Hall.

Parts:  Schultz attributes his artistic traits to both parents—his dad, a mechanic and genius at fixing things, and his mom, a nurse, who nurtured the more personal aspects of his creativity.  He is also part tinkerer, recycler, organization czar, waste-hater, sci-fi junkie, animal and music lover, teacher, and community-builder. And he has an I-have-to-stop-welding-because-this-robot-is-cracking-me-up sense of humor.

Throughout his work, we find wonder, humor, and intrigue in the parts—“what’s that bit there?” But Schultz is after the sum—that is, the new story that the once-discarded objects can tell, be it literary, satirical, comical, or personal.