Eric Sealine

"I grew up and went to college in Ames, Iowa. Through high school and at Iowa State University I took all the art and art history courses I could and visited the Des Moines Art Center on a regular basis, but it wasn’t until my first visit to the Chicago Art Institute that something… clicked.

I have always built things. While I’ve been a lifetime visual artist with a regular studio practice, I’ve almost always had a day job. There have been many: hospital orderly, carpenter, ship-keeper, boat fixer, graphic artist, museum display builder, and, for 20 years, architectural modelmaker.

Early on, I worked extensively with glass, including leaded glass, and vitreous enamel fused onto plate glass at high temperatures. After some transformative life experiences—becoming a parent and losing my parents— I abandoned abstraction, as it no longer felt meaningful. I now had some stories to tell, and I began exploring more narrative work in oils, acrylics, drawing, and collage.

Along the way, I’ve learned to work with a lot of materials and disciplines: stained glass, high-temperature vitreous enamels on plate glass, wood, (in its many varieties), Plexiglas, metal, electricity, magicians’ tricks, forced-perspective construction, oil-paint and canvas, drawing, (in its many media), bronze casting, Photoshop, boat design and building…

For each of us, every new skill we gain has the effect of multiplying the possibilities of our existing ones.

The work in this exhibition was built in the wake of a life-changing experience. After a serious motorcycle crash, I’m very glad to be alive, and it shows in the work. For me, each piece in the collection is like a physical haiku—a concise poetic offering." - Eric Sealine

SOURCE - https://www.ericsealine.com/about (Oct 2025)