| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Born in Germany, sculptor Horst Doll lives and works in Strathcona County. For years he owned and ran Ministik Pottery Studio (1988 – 2006), and since 2007 has put aside pottery in favour of sculpture.
Doll moved to Canada in 1967. While he is mostly self-taught, he took various forms of instruction at the Alberta College of Art + Design, Harcourt House, Red Deer College, and the University of Alberta. Since 1997, he’s also made several trips to Western and Southern Europe to study art in major museums.
With an interest in ancient figurative sculpture, Doll attempts to create work that embodies the condition of the scarred, broken, and sometimes incomplete works that survive from antiquity. He says, “I like damaged pieces and … the fact that broken things automatically stand in for the passing of time…. I damage my pieces on purpose, but always find it really hard to do.” Referring how he attacked his bust of Alexander of Macedon, he says, “the damage was all the more appropriate given that he was much more of a destroyer and a conqueror and not a builder.”
Doll mounted the Timeless Communicator solo exhibition at Edmonton’s Alberta Craft Council’s Discovery Gallery, and participated in numerous group exhibitions including Diversity at Edmonton’s Visual Arts Alberta Gallery and Myriad at St. Albert’s Profiles Public Art Gallery. The Strathcona County Permanent Art Collection contains some of his work. He is a member of the Alberta Craft Council, the Sculptors’ Association of Alberta, and the U.S.-based International Sculpture Centre. |