As far back as kindergarten I knew I would be an artist. One day when working on a watercolor of a friend our teacher saw what I was doing and said, “You should be an artist when you grow up.” I remember being proud and excited to tell my parents that I was going to be an artist. Teachers, including my mom, have always been an influence in my life. I owe a debt of gratitude to all my teachers and especially my parents for their support.
Winston-Salem, N.C. is where I grew up. It is a great place to be from, and when it was time for college, I knew I wanted to be in a big city. After receiving a scholarship offer from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), I was on my way. Lucky for me Chicago was the big city I was looking for. I am proud now to say I am a Chicagoan.
When you go to SAIC you are encouraged to explore lots of things. They don’t really have majors which was fortunate for me because after a while some great professors steered me to my career. One teacher really stands out—Preston Jackson. He helped by encouraging me to become what I am today. Before graduating in 2013, I focused on foundry work; SAIC is one of the only schools in the country that has a foundry program.
I used to be an avid painter, live-and-die by my brush, working into the wee hours painting. I had a very powerful personal manifesto about what I thought painting should be, but then in school after taking different classes I came to realize that the world is better interpreted through sculpture, a three-dimensional representation of life.
My work is best described as creating a collage of the natural world by reinterpreting reality through mold-making and metal casting to make a more surrealistic vision. There are a lot of things that my work has dealt with—like mental health and art history—but I feel that what I want to inspire the most is curiosity. Art making is an important part of the human experience. I want to ravenously create an interpretation of my life to inspire others to do the same.
Of course, other artists have influenced me greatly along the way. Claude Lalanne is a French metal surrealist born in 1924. Along with her husband, Francois-Xavier; she created a poetical and dreamlike universe inspired by the natural world. Sometimes I feel when I am working on something that I am channeling Lalanne, a very powerful female sculptor. Another big influence is Nick Cave, a Chicagoan and SAIC instructor who is a fabric sculptor, dancer, and performance artist. Recently, he’s done metal work that is just so beautiful. In my opinion Cave is one of our most important contemporary artists today.
My time in the studio is very important to me. I love it but the hours can be tough on my body. What I do is very process oriented. It takes a long time to complete a project—doodling, sketching, drawing, mold making, casting, welding, grinding and finishing. A lot of the time I am working on several projects at once since some of my larger pieces can take up to five months to complete. After I leave my studio, I head home to spend time on my websites. One is essentially a gallery for my sculpture work (BoboDancy.com) and the other is for the products I am starting to design, make and sell (OddAlchemy.com, right now featuring bronze hairpins with more designs to come).
The pandemic has been very difficult for galleries due to safety concerns. Early in 2020, after months of work and preparation, I had a great opening night at a gallery but then Covid hit and shut everything down.
In 2021 I will be saving all I can with an eye on opening my own shop so that I can offer more jewelry designs in my body of work.
Follow Margaret Bobo-Dancy on Instagram: @bobo_dancy.