Fitzhugh Karol and the Material Vernacular

The most immediately recognizable of Brooklyn-based sculptor Fitzhugh Karol’s works might be his colorful large-scale industrial steel sculptures seen around the borough as part of the NYC Parks Department’s Art in the Parks program. Searches (inspired by the iconic Soldiers and Sailors Arch at Grand Army Plaza) and Reaches (which mimicked the movement of park-goers along the park’s loop) were on view in Prospect Park in 2018. In 2019 and 2020, the park installed Field’s Jax I and Field’s Jax IV in DUMBO. The following year, Field’s Jax Thicket was shown on the lawn of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum in Pelham Bay Park.

He has exhibited work at the Bartow-Pell, Socrates Sculpture Park, Rochester Contemporary Arts Center, the Aidron Duckworth Museum and, most recently, at LongHouse Reserve in the exhibition “Full Circle: Toshiko Takaezu and Friends,” which overlapped with a now-closed Toshiko Takaezu show at the Noguchi Museum.

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Karol’s angular and artificially colored public art might at first seem worlds away from the work of the renowned Japanese-American ceramic artist, whose mysterious closed-form stoneware and porcelain pieces tended to evoke nature, but he apprenticed with Takaezu two decades ago and still considers the experience formative. Takaezu was known for treating mentorship as an essential part of her artistic practice, as well as for her openness. She believed nurturing relationships fueled creativity, and apprentices like Karol and Martha Russo became close friends. “Full Circle” considers Takezu’s work in the context of those friendships and the artistry they inspired, including Karol’s. In it, he’s showing a series of wood sculptures suggestive of Takaezu’s tree-like Homage to Devastation Forest, highlighting his range.

Material exploration has always been a focus of Karol’s practice. When he uses steel, he taps into its strength. When he manipulates wood, grain, texture and organic structure become part of the resultant sculpture. His works are both grounded in nature and reflective of the industrial world around us. We spoke with the artist about his apprenticeship with Toshiko Takaezu and his in-depth explorations of material, shape and texture.

Tell me a bit about your practice—how did it develop and how has it evolved over time?

My work is inspired by landscape. I grew up in New Hampshire and have many memories of exploring rocky hiking trails in the White Mountains. What I observed in nature back then and observe in nature today inspires the materiality and vernacular of shapes—step-like shapes, sawtooth lines and the silhouettes of landscape that I use throughout my sculpture work.

I was fully consumed by pottery in my earlier years as an artist, which led to my focus on ceramic sculpture at Skidmore College. After graduation, I did a year-long apprenticeship with ceramic artist Toshiko Takaezu, and from there, I focused on ceramic sculpture during my Master’s at Rhode Island School of Design. After focusing primarily on clay, I felt an eagerness and curiosity to explore other mediums, such as wood and steel, which could help me achieve different sculptural goals. Those are the three mediums I rally around today: wood, steel and clay.

What was it like apprenticing with Toshiko Takaezu, especially given that your work is so different?

When I first started working with Toshiko, I was solely working in clay. While our work is certainly different now, at the time of the apprenticeship I was completely consumed with the ceramic world—I was most familiar with clay as my creative language.

The apprenticeship itself was all-consuming in a wonderful way. It was a great transition from college, a time when you’re so focused on discovering yourself, and it moved me into a more subservient role that revolved around supporting Toshiko’s work, learning through both osmosis and assignment. The year with Toshiko was a learning experience that went well beyond art and clay. I was taught life lessons and work ethic and was inspired by her approach to life, where her studio, garden, home and kitchen were all interconnected and intertwined.

How do you feel about having your work shown with hers in the exhibition at LongHouse? Has your work come together like that before?

This is the first time our work has come together in an exhibition setting, and it’s truly an honor to be sitting in a show alongside her. I primarily think of the LongHouse exhibition as Toshiko’s show, but it’s special to have those who were greatly influenced by her work and leadership, as well as the work of her peers together in one place.

I contributed totemic wood sculptural pieces to the show as well as a carved egg-like form. While on the surface, these sculptures differ greatly from Toshiko’s work, they are, I’m sure, informed by her Homage to Devastation Forest works: a large-scale work composed of ceramic tree-like forms that she created in response to the destructive volcanic eruption that occurred in Hawaii in 1959. The Devastation Forest piece informed my interest in totemic sculpture, in addition to my rooted memories of natural landscapes and a familial interest in the artwork of northern cultures.

What do you feel having your work in conversation with that of other sculptors adds to the experience of seeing art?

Toshiko is the common thread of this group of artists, and it’s interesting to see how each person has gone down different avenues. Each artist in the show has their own perspective and identity, but we’re all connected by her influence or friendship, which makes the conversation between works that much more compelling.

For example, my work differs greatly from the work of Martha Russo, who was also an apprentice of Toshiko. But despite the differences in our work, I relate to the dedication, passion and unbridled energy of her approach to creation.

You encourage direct interaction with your public works. Why?

Ever since I was a kid, I would transport myself into my drawings of fantasy landscapes. When I was in school, there was a stage when I was captivated by Chinese and Japanese landscape painting, and I remember imagining myself inside those works… I had this same imaginative process when I moved into sculptural work, transporting myself into the fantasy of landscape that was embedded in each work.

I wanted to bring this same playful imagination and transportative quality to the public, and when my sculptures started to grow larger, I realized that I could make the fantasy a reality. A pivotal moment in my career was the first major public sculpture I created with wood at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, which was meant to encourage interaction from visitors and children – we even had a dance performance take place on the work. Across my portfolio, my public installations are less about observation and more about being within the work.

What are you currently excited to be working on?

I’m looking forward to trying new things as I evolve my practice. I will continue to tell stories through wood, steel, and ceramics through the same vernacular of shapes that I’ve always been drawn to, but I’m always finding new ways to interact with these mediums.

I just finished an installation at a public school in Washington D.C.—a large steel work—and it’s the first time I’ve ever incorporated bright colors into my work. It was exciting to create something with these invigorating colors, and I’m working on a follow-up piece to it that combines raw wood with a brighter painted steel structure. I’m also exploring new processes with my larger wood works that involve more systematic planning and pattern-making.