Artist's Statement

I like to see my sculptures as poets celebrating life's passion and nobility. They represent the mysteries and the sanctity of daily life in pure lines and elongated style. Their forms are mostly female figures communicating the feminine spirit of nurturing, tenderness, and strength. When sculpting wood, I experience a constant mystical flow of rhythm, harmony and effort. The ebb and flow of this process gives fruition, a physical definition, to the unwritten poetry of the wood.

The challenge of sculpting gives the most sense to my life, because it perpetuates my dreams and allows me to share the wood's enchanted poetry with others.

Artist's Bio

Marika's sculptures can be recognized from afar because of their graceful and elongated style with pure and bare lines. Approaching her sculptures one often experiences sensations of inner joy, spirituality and serenity.

Not until 1996 did Marika focus her creativity. While having a sculpture made by Francois Sanon, a master in fine wood sculpture, he realized from their discussions that she had potential as an artist. From 1996 to 2001, Marika studied under Sanon's guidance. From 2001 to 2005, Marika spent her time in Montreal and New York City developing her skills, exhibiting her sculptures and worked with Sanon during his visits to New York.

Her most recent awards include, fourth place in 2002 and 2003 at the artist exhibition, Rencontre des Arts, held near Montreal, Canada. This annual event is primarily dedicated to sculpture with over seventy professional sculptors exhibiting 750 sculptures. In New York, The Pen and Brush, an international membership organization founded over 110 years ago for women who are professionally active in the arts, awarded Marika first prize in the 2003 African American Art Exhibition.

In 2005, Marika moved to Texas.

The 10 years of Marika's evolution in the art of sculpture has not only been a period of learning and perfecting, but also, and above all, a time of introspection of her own femininity. Here, she discovered a wellspring of creativity and imprinted her art with a dimension and a transcendence that is seen in her sculptures.

Artist's Resume

Education:

1996 to 2001

• Sculpting from Francois Sanon, master in fine wood sculpture, (An example of Francois Sanon's work is in the Special Collections Department, the William L. Bryant West Indies Collection, of the University of Central Florida.)

Awards:

2003

• Fourth Place, Rencontre des Arts, St. Jean-sur-Richilieu, Québec
• First Prize, 2003 African American Art Exhibition, The Pen and Brush, Inc., New York, NY

2002

• Fourth Place, Rencontre des Arts, St. Jean-sur-Richilieu, Québec

Selected Media Events and Publications:

December 2006

• The Times-Sentinel, Marika Sculptures Open Studio is Insightful and Inspirational, by Joey Jelenc, Lockhart, TX, December 11, 2006

November 2001

• The Roosevelt Island Wire, Artist Marika Bordes: Finding the Story in the Wood, by Francine Lange, New York, NY, November 3, 2001 Issue: nyc10044.com/wire/2206/bordes.html

December 2000

• Télévision Nationale d'Haiti, Portrait of an Artist, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Selected Exhibitions:

2006

• Kerr Arts and Cultural Center, Best of the Best Membership Show, Kerrville, TX, December-January
• Artist's Open Studio, Seguin, TX, December

2004

• Open Studio, Juvenal Reis Studios, New York, NY, June

2003

• La Guardia Gallery, New York, NY, November
• Rencontre des Arts, St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec, November
• Pen and Brush, 57th Annual Sculpture & Medallic Art Exhibition, New York, NY, March - April
• Pen and Brush African American Art Exhibition, New York, NY, February - March

2002

• Rencontre des Arts, St. Jean-sur-Richilieu, Québec, October
• Rivercross Window Gallery, New York, NY, October-November (solo)
• Roosevelt Island Visual Arts Association Gallery, New York, NY, February -April
• Pen and Brush African American Art Exhibition, New York, NY, February-March

Contact Artist

Marika Bordes
E-mail: marika.bordes@tsos.org
Tel. 830-433-4315

Website: www.marikasculpture.com