These pieces came about while I was at work, putting together sets for a feature film. I collected appealing bits of wood left over near the chop saw. I glued pieces together into logical clumps, then mounted them in dramatic positions that mimicked tiny Brutalist monuments. I originally imagined them as maquettes for public sculptures to be fabricated in steel or concrete, as center pieces for a city square or park. Then they became little experiments in shape and pattern. Then they became projects, and then toys. I have found them equally interesting and fun. - Ted Altman, November 2025 Pictured - Ted Altman: Eight Step Ladder Version 2 Paper sculpture 6" x 4" x 3" 2025   

Ted Altman's first real job was building a 2/3 scale 210 foot mock-up of a Navy warship as a training environment for naval recruits, an unlikely introduction to a career spent creating artificial worlds. He went on to work as a scenic sculptor for scenic shops, theming contractors, and a zoo exhibit contractor, where sculpting Nature in concrete taught him to appreciate the beautiful accidental abstraction of rocks and geology. He has also built props and decorated sets for film and television, always driven by a love of making things: Working with his hands, arranging elements, and giving form to imagination.    Pictured: Ted Altman - The Luyster Creek Scarecrow Painted wood 9" x 7 1/2"  2025  

 

 

Join us on Sunday October 5 from 4 to 7pm for " Grace Bristow: Sticks and Stones " at Vorderzimmer!  At 6pm, enjoy live music with  Konstantin Howard on sax, Gabe Chalick on trumpet, and Rohit Ooman on guitar. Enter under the stoop. Refreshments will be served. XXVZ

  My work re-cycles and re-contextualizes the physical qualities of natural materials. What does it mean to build with burnt wood, to draw with corroded steel, or to create a chair out of paper? Through a process of sincere consideration of each material’s specificity, I “misuse” materials to undermine their structural and metaphorical integrity. Physical materials have physical constraints that demand the same openness and attention essential to practicing tolerance.  Art is a vehicle to practice tolerance. I define tolerance as the immersion of the self into otherness. The tolerant attitude I bring to my materials and artistic process mirrors the attitude I hope to bring to my relationships outside the studio in the world, where the risks are higher. Immersing myself into otherness requires mistake-making, introspection, and maintenance. The notion of consistency over time becomes the asymptote— how might quantity be just as much a form of love as quality, and what cracks em...