On-Line Catalog
Sylvie Rosenthal
Snake Tangle
Sylvie Rosenthal got her start as an artists at the Eli Whitney Museum. She took her first class at age 5 and finished as a teacher at the age of seventeen; learning how to use tools and make kinetic toys, studying Leonardo Da Vinci, Alexander Calder, AC Gilbert, rubber bands, and marbles. This playful process of learning, unlearning, getting frustrated and figuring things out was tempered by a poet and mentor, Albert (Huff) Huffstickler in 1997. He introduced her to ‘Dishwashers and other Angels’ - simple yet profound everyday observations and concepts expressed in his poetry, paintings and way of life.
In 2003 she received her BFA from RIT School for American Crafts in woodworking and furniture design. This traditional European program increased her technical ability and precision. Since then she has been involved in a number of craft schools as a teacher, resident, student and employee.
Everyday triumphs, struggles, and heartaches are what drive her work. Her process as an artist is processing the mundane and profound through a poet's heart and an inventors’ playing hands. She works in her North Carolina studio making a combination of kinetic sculpture and studio furniture that investigates the human condition, exploring duality and balance through a focus on the daily rituals of decision making, temptation, virtue, and vice.
