Steps To Respect
ARTIST: Michele Golia
HOME: Italy
LOCATION: Rotary Common, Main St.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
“The steps – polished and rough – represent life with its joys and sorrows. On the level above the steps, the abstract form represents Respect: the respect earned during one’s journey through life.”
The position that sculptures acquire in space in harmony or in contrast with their surroundings is another important feature of Michele’s work. Objects made of solid materials like terracotta, iron and marble are usually fixed in space but can move around a hidden metal axis.

Michele is an Italian artist and part of a well-known Umbrian family of ceramists and he learned from his grandfather, Maestro Umberto Tiberli. He studied at Istituto Statale d’Arte di Orvieto and received the title Maestro d’Arte and the Diploma in Interior Design and Architecture. A long-standing passion for the history of materials is reflected in his use of traditional techniques to sculpt in clay, marble and iron. His current work is focused onthe forms we encounter in nature. With studios in Orvieto, Italy and Munich, Germany, his sculptures have been shown in personal and collective exhibitions in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United States, and form part of private art collections on four continents.
Nature small and big forms of the vegetal and human world provides the inspiration for Michele Golia’s work. It is characterized by constant and often minimalist movement, details that escape our observation during everyday life. For example, autumn leaves move in the wind and eventually fall to the ground in a spiral twist. Through his sculptures, he hopes to make such movements more apparent and, possibly, to facilitate a closer observation of nature.
The position that sculptures acquire in space in harmony or in contrast with their surroundings is another important feature of Michele’s work. Objects made of solid materials like terracotta, iron and marble are usually fixed in space but can move around a hidden metal axis.
Groups of sculptures might recall a couple engaged in conversation or a family awaiting their picture to be taken. Therefore, they can reflect our own interactions with other human beings and how these change from day to day.

