Richard Rhodes (sculptor)

Life and career

Born in California, Rhodes studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1981. Through his study of medieval ritual and research, Rhodes apprenticed as a stonemason in Siena, Italy, after graduate school. Working with the operative branch of the Freemason's guild in Siena, Rhodes studied the Sacred Geometries and the Sacred Rules of Bondwork as passed down through the medieval guild of the Freemasons. He was the first non-Italian in over 700 years to work as an apprentice under the Freemasons. Rhodes credits his guild training as a major influence in his sculptural practice.

Rhodes is the founder of several Seattle-based businesses including Rhodesworks Design Studio, Rhodes Masonry and Rhodes Architectural Stone.

Sculpture Practice

In sculpture, Rhodes' work explores the line between art and architecture, using traditional stone construction with contemporary building techniques. His earlier, expressive and site specific work is self-described as "architectonic." His more current sculptural work is abstract and figurative, visible in his Sentinel Series (various). His work is textural and often draws on the expressive hand finishes Rhodes' learned during his training and apprenticeship in Italy.

Several of his commissions incorporate antique stone objects such as salvaged and worn pavements or stair blocks. Rhodes' largest public sculpture, the two thousand square-foot Untitled - Stone Wave (2004) at the center of Antoine Predock's Tacoma Art Museum, is made of antique granite salvaged from road pave stones in the Fujian region of China. The museum invites other artists to contribute to the space created by Untitled - Stone Wave, using it as a base or canvas. Participating artists include Dale Chihuly who provided the first artwork to be created in this series entitled Niijima Floats (2003) and SuttonBeresCuller created Ship in a Bottle (2007) by lowering a sail boat into the courtyard. Untitled - Stone Wave (2004) has created a unique exhibition space at the Tacoma Art Museum that "may be the single most dramatic exhibition space in the Northwest."

Pieces from the Sentinel Series, including Sentinel I and Embrace, were featured in the Sculpture by the Sea - Bondi and Sculpture by the Sea - Cottesloe in Sydney (2012) and Perth (2013) respectively. Of Embrace, Sentinel Series, Tom Flynn of The Sculpture Agency writes "Seattle-based sculptor and designer Richard Rhodes’ Embrace: Sentinel Series, comprising two chunky interlocking forms in carved granite, was among the few truly stand-out works, beautifully executed and open to multiple readings. It seemed perfectly at home overlooking the ocean. Brancusi would have liked it." The sculpture was represented by the Hotham Street Contemporary Gallery in Melbourne, Australia and now resides in a private collection in Aspen, Colorado.

As an artist, Rhodes combines the aesthetics of traditional stone construction with contemporary building techniques. Rhodes' current projects include a series of hand carved stone tables meant as monumental outdoor gathering places. The tables have architectural qualities, featuring dovetail joints, butterfly joints and other construction techniques unusual for stone.

Expanding on his figurative and gestural work, he has also produced a series of cast bronze sculptures, Sentinels I & II Bronze shown in private galleries in Aspen and in the Dutko Gallery in London. Rhodes produces his bronze works at the Fonderia artistica Battaglia in Milan, Italy.

As Educator and Lecturer

Rhodes developed several lectures accredited by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He has spoken at institutions, firms, studios and conventions, including the national conventions of the American Institute of Architects and the Association of Professional Landscape Designers and Building Stone Institute. He delivered a five-lecture series to the Institute of Classical Architecture in New York and San Francisco. In 2012, he lectured at the Royal Austrian Institute of Architecture (RAIA).

Other notable lectures include the keynote address for the Stonework Symposium XIV at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, titled Materiality., a lecture at the Strelka Institute of Media, Architecture and Design, titled Working in a Culture of Chaos: Building Global Infrastructure in the Developing World, an Arts & Lecture Series sponsored by Il Punto in Seattle, Washington titled The Last Apprentice," and a lecture at the China Academy of Art on invitation by Wang Shu titled Paths in Stone: China, Material and Modernization.

Rhodes' AIA accredited lectures include Stone Specification, Adaptive Re-Use of Reclaimed Stone Materials, The Sacred Rules of Freemasonry: The Underlying Rules of Stone Design, Dimensional Stone - Ancient Traditions, Modern Practice, and The Grain of Stone: Implications for Design and Fabrication.

Architectural Stone and Architectural Design

In addition to his sculptural practice, Rhodes used his academic and practical training in masonry and business to found and direct three companies specializing in architectural stone. Through the architectural stone companies, Rhodes has worked with notable architects and firms. His stonework contribution to Olson Kundig Architects' Hong Kong Villa is featured on the cover of Jim Olson: Houses. Rhodes Architectural Stone, under Rhodes' direction, supplied the stonework chosen for the cover photographers of Peter Pennoyer Architects and New Tropical Classics, Hawaiian Homes by Shay Zak.

With Rhodes Architectural Stone, Rhodes purchased 17 villages behind the Three Gorges Dam project in China and successfully recycled the antique stone material into construction of architectural projects in the United States. Rhodes' interest with working in high-density limestone led him to the ancient Chinese villages because of the stones texture and warm characteristics. They were in the process of being abandoned and flooded because of the hydroelectric project, which was set to displace between 1.1 and 1.9 million people. The villages were built out of the same high-density limestone, but with the benefit of a patina from thousands of years of daily use and weathering and Rhodes set out to preserve the material. After two years of negotiation, Rhodes worked with the Chinese government to purchase the limestone that would otherwise have been underwater and finance factories with Chinese stonemasons and craftsmen. Rhodes ultimately only harvested the top three inches of the limestone and gave the rest back to the Chinese to build new homes.

Projects that incorporate the salvaged stone work include the fireplace and powder room sink at the Telluride House featured in Western Interiors and Design; the stonework salvaged for the project included a 500-year-old stone threshold "[where the] patinas are just incredible." Rhodes also created Stone Wave at the Tacoma Art Museum in 2003 with 700 pieces of re cut and transported pave stones from the Pearl River Delta in Southern China. According to Rhodes, the stone, "[has]this fantastic texture...you get almost a sheen to the stone from the wear."

Chronology of Work

Written works by Richard Rhodes