Recipient Information
Location
Lexington, Kentucky
Year of Award
2025
Grant or Fellowship
Southern Prize and State Fellowships
Grant Amount
$5,000
Travis Townsend draws, builds, carves, rebuilds, paints, and tinkers upon wood and mixed media sculptures in his Lexington studio. His process-oriented works evolve from sketches and travel through many transformations before being cut apart, reassembled, and reworked (sometimes many years later). Parts are often transplanted or recycled.
Travis studied at Kutztown University (BS) and Virginia Commonwealth University (MFA) and has participated in residencies at Penland School of Craft, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Vermont Studio Center, Peters Valley, Arrowmont, and the EMMA Collaboration. His sculptures and drawings have recently been exhibited at the Susquehanna Art Museum, Manifest Gallery, Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Wharton Esherick Museum, Quappi Projects, and Washington State University. New American Paintings, The Manifest International Drawing Annual, and The Penland Book of Woodworking have also included his work.
His awards include an Emerging Artist Grant from the American Craft Council, a fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council, three sculpture grants from the Virginia A. Groot Foundation, and travel grants from the Great Meadows Foundation.
Artist Statement
Sketched, built, carved, drawn-on, dis-assembled, rebuilt, painted, tethered, clamped, tinkered-upon and appearing as function-less vessel forms (some of which have been evolving for over a decade), these sculptures play off the forms of tools, toys, and boats and have layers of mark-making and painting that contribute to the building of a vague history.
They aim to be (in their own idiosyncratic way) well-made and innovative in form. Perhaps they are beautiful.
These process-oriented works take a winding path to completion, evolving from continuously redrawn sketches and traveling through many transformations before being cut apart, reassembled, and reworked. Curious inspection and patient observation reveal previously unseen drawings and room-like interiors, many with small chairs and ladders that suggest a narrative of previous inhabitants.
It’s not lost on me that my studio is the garage. And I’m in the studio at night thinking about the things that men build. Have we built good things? Am I building a good thing? Is this personal and artistic self-doubt? Well, partially. But more importantly, I hope the work communicates a serious and intentional examination of the creative act and of "building things".