Artist Statement

A structural simplicity creates the visual foundation for my sculptures and paintings. The sculptures–made of bronze, aluminum, resin and wood–echo familiar forms found in nature, modernist design and art history. The American rural West with its untamed spirit, vast rugged landscapes and traditions of mysticism also informs this body of work.

The sculptures and paintings explore physical and intangible notions: botanical structures, environmental rhythms, physical and emotional solitude, health of the psyche.

Intentional abstraction creates a sense of timelessness around these pieces. They are rich in historical reference and outside the rapidly shifting visual language of stylized contemporary aesthetics. These structures are objects for reflection; counterpoints to the frenetic pace of contemporary society.

CV

Download one-page CV here (PDF)

Education

Seattle Pacific University: Major in Visual Art; BA, Minor in Communication, 1992

One-Person Exhibitions

  • 2015

    • New Eyes, Studio TWOZEROTWO, Walla Walla, WA

  • 2011

    • Nexus: Work & Vision | Squire Broel, CWU, Ellensburg, WA

  • 2010

  • 2009

    • Hear What You See, Catherine Person Gallery, Seattle, WA

    • Blooms, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.

  • 2008

    • Visions of Landscape, Artspace1, Walla Walla, WA

    • BLOOM, Simon Edwards Gallery, Yakima, WA

  • 2007

    • Painting, Bronze and Glass, PCA, Pendleton, OR

  • 2006

    • A Fragile LIfe, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.

    • Oil, Bronze and Glass, Foundry Gallery, Walla Walla, Washington

    • In Focus: Regional Artist Spotlight, Museum of Arts and Culture, Spokane, Washington

    • New Works: Glass, Bronze & Dirt, Simon Edwards Gallery, Yakima, Washington

  • 2005

    • Rising From Thorny Ground, Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, Washington

  • 2004

    • Hopes, Fears and Dreams, Walla Walla Foundry, Walla Walla, Washington

  • 2003

    • Efforesce, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, Washington

  • 2002

    • New Paintings, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, Washington

  • 2001

    • New Works, Eyre Moore Gallery, Seattle, Washington

  • 2000

    • Recent Paintings, Augen Gallery, Portland, Oregon

    • Still Life Paintings, Simon Edwards Gallery, Yakima, Washington

    • Life & Land, Waterbrook, Walla Walla, Washington

  • 1999

    • Still Life and Lemons, Eyre Moore Gallery, Seattle, Washington

    • Fish. Lemon. Flower. Vessel, Lorinda Knight Gallery, Spokane, Washington

  • 1998

    • Twelve Nights of My Desire, Kurt Lidtke Gallery, Seattle, Washington

  • 1997

    • New Paintings and Sculpture, Kurt Lidtke Gallery, Seattle, Washington

    • Trumpets in the Night, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington

    • Recent Paintings, Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho

    • New Paintings, Carnegie Art Center, Walla Walla, Washington

Group Exhibitions

  • 2015

    • Gallery Artists, Art Miami – Zolla Lieberman Gallery, Miami, FL

  • 2015

    • Group Show, Zolla Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

  • 2007 

    • Hope Rising, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.

  • 2006 

    • Group Show, Foundry Gallery, Walla Walla, Washington

    • Out West, Chip Duyck Studio, Walla Walla, Washington

  • 2005 

    • Art for Small Spaces, Simon Edwards Gallery, Yakima, Washington

  • 2004 

    • From the Garden, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, Washington

    • Gallery Artists, Art at El Paseo Square, Palm Desert, California

    • Paintings and Glass, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, Washington

    • Holiday 2004, Simon Edwards Gallery, Yakima, Washington

  • 2001 

    • Paintings & Drawings, Simon Edwards Gallery, Yakima, Washington

  • 2000 

    • Summer Salon, Kurt Lidtke Gallery, Seattle, Washington

    • Now What? Reflections of the past 1000 Years, Eyre Moore Gallery, Seattle, Washington

    • Gallery Artists and Recent Acquisitions, Larry Evans/ James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, California

    • Gallery Artists, Lorinda Knight Gallery, Spokane, Washington

    • Art Walla, Walla Walla Foundry, Walla Walla, Washington

  • 1999 

    • Outward Bound: American Art at the Brink of the Twenty-First Century, Meridian International, Washington, DC; Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Beijing and Shanghai, China; Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia

    • Third Annual Holiday Show, Simon Edwards Gallery, Yakima, Washington

  • 1998 

    • Gallery Artists, Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, California

    • Retrospective/Prospective, Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho

  • 1997 

    • Retrospective/Prospective, Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho

    • Images, Carnegie Art Center, Walla Walla, Washington

    • Northwest Annual, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, Washington

    • Introductions, Rental/Sales Gallery, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington

    • Tenth Annual Sculpture Show, Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho

    • Cast Contemporary Sculpture, Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington

  • 1996 

    • Floral Paintings, Sunbird Gallery, Bend, Oregon

    • Preview, Kurt Lidtke Gallery, Seattle, Washington

    • Fabrication & Collaboration, Art Gym, Marylhurst College, Portland, Oregon

    • Regional Invitational, Carnegie Art Center, Walla Walla, Washington

 

Biography

Squire Broel’s visual language gives shape to his encounters with both the visible world and the invisible world.  Nuances, commonly overlooked in the midst of a frenetic, culturally driven reality provide much of the inspiration for his work.  Through series and repetition Broel delves deep into his creative process; ever-working to distill the spirit of his subjects.  Through his quest for the “essential” Broel explores the many expansive possibilities inherent to the search.

Upon receiving his B.A. from Seattle Pacific University in 1992, Broel spent the next six years gaining insight and experience through travels around Southeast Asia and as the patineur for the Walla Walla Foundry. He used this time to cultivate his own manner of working and hone his skills as an artist. As the bronze coloration specialist at the Foundry, Broel consulted and worked for such artists as Jim Dine, Deborah Butterfield, David Bates, the late Nancy Graves and the late Robert Arneson. At the same time, he became increasingly influenced by and aware of the traditions and methods that thread Northwest artists together. Recurrent references to natural forms, energetic mark making and the mystical surface quality in his work connect Broel to those traditions.

Near the end of 1997, Broel left the Walla Walla Foundry to open Broel Studio. This move has allowed him to focus on his own work full time. Employing his education, knowledge of art history and experience as patineur, Broel is painting and sculpting to visually express everyday objects and experiences with thoughtful honesty and reflection. Broel’s current work continues in a variety of dimensions to explore the derivations of his abstract botanical paintings. Moving between works of large-scale and diminutive stature celebrates the inherent physicality of the creative process itself, and how changes in process build and affect meaning.

His work is in numerous private and public collections: examples include the Brooklyn Museum, Los Angeles County Museum, Swedish Hospital (Seattle, WA), Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA) and the City of Walla Walla. Broel has participated in solo and group exhibitions throughout the Pacific Northwest, Canada, Vietnam, China and Indonesia.  While his work is exhibited internationally, Broel has chosen to live and work in Walla Walla, Washington. The isolation of his location allows him to develop his own visual voice that continues to gain attention outside the Northwest.