Pacific Northwest Sculptors was founded Joseph Highfill in July of 2000. He had been working with and learning from Micheal Dente', (the bronze Martin Luther King at the Portland Convention Center is his work), and in the process had discovered how satisfying talking to a like minded individual about sculpture could be. Feeling a need to build upon this he garnered a list of about 10 sculptors and invited them to dinner. A couple of them, Marty Eichinger and Devin Lawrence Field suggested other names and in the end 21 sculptors attended. The invitation read as follows:

Thank you for your interest in attending the Sculptor's Dinner. Everyone is enthusiastic about an evening of engaging conversation. I'll consider the meeting a success if we end with new insights and more questions than we start with. Enjoy this opportunity to discuss issues with people who share a passion for art.

June 6, 2000

Though it was originally suggested the group meet again in six months or a year in the end it was decided the meetings would take place once a month. Pacific Northwest Sculptors was chosen as the name and the first officers were elected with Joseph Highfill as president, Manuel Izquerdo as Treasurer and Patrick Gracewood as Secretary.

The member meetings that ensued rotated between various sculptors studios as they still do. At these members may see the techniques used by other sculptors use whether in one’s own preferred medium or another. We learn from each other, sculptural questions are answered, methods are shared, and novice sculptors learn from the masters and sometimes vice versa. There is no hording of techniques. The enthusiasm at these meetings is infectious, ideas fly fast and furious and it is difficult if not impossible to leave uninspired.

We publish a monthly newletter and maintain a website, (www.pnwsculptors.org). Both feature artist’s works, resources and opportunities. We have recently begun alternating the monthly studio meetings with educational meetings where a specific technique is demonstrated. These have included photographing sculpture on a small budget and techniques for enlarging small works or maquettes into large pieces. We also hold occasional seminars separate from our meetings. These may last an entire day and have included, marketing, mold-making techniques, and formatting images for the computer and the web. These events as well as the educational meetings are open to the public.

Members works are displayed in the lobby of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Portland, at the Salem Art Festival in July in Salem, Or., and at the Art in the Pearl in the Northwest Park blocks of Portland Labor Day Weekend. At the outdoor events not only is work displayed but our members demonstrate their various techniques from forging steel and welding to clay modeling. Please see our Events page on this site for a current listing of activities and meetings.

Though we have grown since that original dinner the root of our organization remains the opportunity to interact with like minded individuals. From these interactions has come our efforts to better educate not only ourselves but the general public as well and to share with them our enthusiasm for and love of sculpture.