WERTHEIMER, Esther

sther Wertheimer’s work has been exhibited and commissioned internationally. She has been particularly recognized throughout Japan. Her bronze sculpture, thirteen-foot Primavera, was installed in front of the new Fukuoka City Hall in Fukuoka, Japan. From her invitational exhibition at the Canadian Embassy in Japan, two of her bronzes were selected for the Katsushika Performing Art Centre in Tokyo.

Paulo and Francesca, dedicated to the Dallas Ballet Company, are at the Wells Fargo Bldg., in Dallas Texas. Her nine-foot sculpture of Seven Dancers is now at the Northwest Florida State College, which won their competition.

Her twenty-three foot Water Babies is located at the Royal Palm Plaza in Boca Raton, and Born Free was installed at the Civic Center in Port St. Lucie, Florida. In the second half of 2004, Airborn was installed at the Civic Center Library in Livermore, CA and Caftan won a competition from the Public Art Program Commission of the City of Palm Desert, CA and was installed in early 2005.

Her seven-foot sculpture Celebration was installed at the Eastgate Senior Residence Public Art Project in Washington D.C. in 2007. In December 2008, the 72” sculpture Airborn is to be installed outside the new Civic Center in Port St. Lucie.

Having learned the technical mastery of casting, her work began to shift away from its earlier foundations in portraiture and realism, towards more poetic gestures and expressive forms. She continues her love of the figure, using graceful elongations to capture the rhythmic beauty of the human spirit.

Her work is at one sensitively delicate and vigorously intense. Life and energy flow from extended limbs and cascading draperies. There is a deep-rooted joy forming the essence of each work – the joy of living. The artist’s passion for dance, family, and love are imbued through her sculptures.

With balance and strength, Wertheimer’s creations show great sensitivity to line and space. Dancers are captured in dynamic weightlessness, their forms generating a language of visual poetry. Mothers hold their children in the air with confidence and delight. Her work forges a connection between bodies and souls, blurring the line between our physical and spiritual beings.

Born in Poland, Wertheimer grew up in Montreal, and in her 30’s began studying at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. She then went on to study in Italy having won many scholarships and grants; 1) Borsa di Studio from the Italian Government, 2) Canada Council Travel Grant, 3) Elizabeth T. Greenshields Memorial Grant, 4) Bourse de l’enseignement superieure, Quebec Government and she later studied portraiture under sculptor Mario Moschi in Florence Italy. Currently she works out of her studio in Boca Raton, Florida and Montreal, Canada.