KANNAPOLIS — Winter winds sweep through the streets of Cannon Village, deserted on a
weekday afternoon. But inside The Crow’s Nest, the warm voice of teen opera diva
Charlotte Church warms chilled visitors as they gaze into the eyes of a bronze dragon
trapped in a pagoda by the roots of an oak tree or at the figure of the mouthless woman
who seems to dance with arms like blades.This is sculptor and designer Chase Winfield’s sanctuary:an artistic
asylum designed to be a retreat for those yearning for a sensory escape into the
fantastic.
Chase once operated a gallery from
the back of his home and did commissioned garden sculpture and accessory work for
furniture stores such as The Lady Bug in High Point, AsYou Like It and Bassett Furniture,
before opening the Cannon Village gallery in late November. It was a leap of faith he took
as a way to cope with the death of his wife of 39 years, Sally, as well as offer
Kannapolis residents and visitors the opportunity to experience fine art.
“If there’s not a lot of
art, you’ll find that people are putting their value in other things that aren’t
nearly as important as art. We have plenty of sports, but not a lot of art,”he says.
After Sally passed, Chase decided
that he was going to “go in another direction.” That other direction became his
gallery.
Chase wanted a gallery “like
they have in Europe, where people go and sit two or three hours and just absorb a
painting, every little stroke of the brush.” He insists Kannapolis and surrounding
areas need a gallery for people to enjoy and to take their children — children who
have an interest in art as Chase did growing up in the Albemarle-Stanley County area.
Though he credits genes with his penchant for sculpting, he was reared in a family that
did not embrace his passion.
“Although my dad was a
carver, he did very primitive and crude woodcarvings, I was in a family that didn’t
know how to appreciate the arts,”he confesses.
“So when I sat and listened
to opera on the radio, my dad would come in and cut that radio off and say, ‘Boy, you
got taste for ... !’ And, looking back, when Isculpted, no one in the house made
comments like, ‘That’s great,’ or ‘That’s beautiful.’ It
wasn’t that kind of surrounding.”
But he admits it was a good family
from which he gained great insight.
“Icouldn’t have if I had
been born into another family. Being born with disadvantage turned out to be an
advantage.”
The evidence of advantage
surrounds him in the form of a garden sculpture of two black monkeys in a warm embrace, a
wax bust of Richard Petty that shows off his trademark moustache and smile and an Arabian
horse standing tall on its hind legs in a display case.
A picture of Patrick Swayze shows
him holding a similar bronze horse sculpture. It is an award from the Arabian Horse
Society and a Chase original.
The Arabian Horse awards in
Scottsdale, Ariz., asked Chase to create a sculpture of an Arabian horse.
“The thought of a spirit of
an Arabian horse is the concept Ihad in mind. When I created this one, I wanted something
that looked like a spirit that you could see through, yet you could see the movement of
the horse, you could see through its mane. The structure is all there; it doesn’t
look like it’s decomposing. It’s a lively, vibrant, beautiful Arabian
horse,”Chase explains, caressing the statue.
But the committee wanted a more
conventional sculpture. So he created one to fulfill their request and shipped them 50
copies. He kept the spirit horse and plans to sell it.
The carefree artist admits
creating pieces like the horse, or “Flight 23,” his ode to Michael Jordan, or
even the miniature “Puddle People” — based on characters from a book
he’s writing — is easy for him although he’s never had formal artistic
training.
He claims knowledge of sculpting
was always there for him, that he knew things he didn’t know why he knew, almost as
if he had been sculpting before, maybe in a prior life.
“I don’t ever ask,
‘Can I do this?’ The less thought I put into it, usually the rest just falls
into place as I allow to flow through me the energy that belongs to no one, the energy
that makes up everything. I like to call it quantum energy.”
He describes quantum energy as the
center of everything in the universe being “99.999 percent of empty space, but
it’s not a space of nothingness but a fullness of intelligent energy that comprises
everything. So, there’s no separation between any of us, we’re all connected,
we’re all attached.”
Chase would rather stay connected
to people through his art than the money he makes from it, though his earnings from The
Lady Bug and the gallery keep him from becoming a “starving artist.”
“I’m worth millions, but
can’t find a nickel,”he jokes. “But, seriously, I’m rich in spirit and
that’s worth a heck of a lot more than $1 million in cash. I don’t work to
become wealthy, I work for the pleasure and the joy Ihope my work gives to other people.
If it wasn’t for people who enjoy and appreciate art, there wouldn’t be any need
for an artist.”
Call Chase Winfield at The
Crow’s Nest Gallery at 704-938-7700. |
Lifestyle