CAROLE EISNER | BIOGRAPHY

Carole Eisner has worked with scrap and recycled metal for 40 years creating elegant, abstract forms welded in steel. The artist's compositions reflect the surprising malleability she finds with metal. She works with “the debris of our civilization,” reclaiming and reassembling disregarded fragments of buildings and bridges into art. 

Eisner's longevity as an artist is a testament to the natural marriage between her monumental outdoor sculptures and the climate of public spaces. 

Eisner received a BFA from Syracuse University. A life-long New Yorker, the artist splits her time between New York City and Weston, Connecticut.

CAROLE EISNER | ARTIST STATEMENT

I work in steel. The strength and permanence of steel and its surprising malleability are essential to my work. Steel gives me the freedom to edit. I can assemble, weld, cut apart and reassemble the steel. I could not do this if I worked in a more perishable medium like clay, glass, or stone.

I have used scrap steel, including railroad gears, parts of bridges, and bolted I-beams. I particularly relish using ancient steel scraps, which are loaded with history and reference a previous life of functionality, to create art. Thus, industrial detritus begins life anew as abstract art.

In order to have materials to construct sculptures, we would travel to large scrap yards in Connecticut. We transported the scrap back to my backyard and would then sort them into scrap piles.

I have always been inspired by the steel itself. When a shape caught my attention, I would comb my scrap pile to find others that would work with it. I chose and amassed those pieces and would then begin to assemble the sculpture. The process is similar to collage. I usually don't start with a sketch, but let the intuitive and accidental take over.

Since 2003, I have been using structural steel I-beams to make sculpture. I discovered a fabricator who rolls steel for boilers and I asked him if he could roll I-beams. He didn't know if it was possible but was willing to try. It worked! He rolled the I-beams as I directed. After accumulating a pile of rolled and twisted I-beams, I assemble them into a sculpture.

In contradiction to the weight and strength of the metal, I wanted the I-beam sculptures to appear light, gestural and as whimsical as a line drawing in space. Because of the curves and circles, the sculptures appear to be in constant animation.

Recently, I have begun to paint some sculptures with automotive paint. This paint provides long-term protection for the steel. I have found that painted sculptures are very popular with the public; vibrant colors add another level of artistry and excitement.

While my small sculptures are exhibited in galleries, my I-beam and other monumental sculptures are primarily displayed in public parks. Although they are shown in nature, they don’t imitate nature.

I’m always interested in how viewers approach my work, what they see in it and what attracts them. Is it the universal language? The vibrant colors? A recognizable form? A new technique? Does the work speak to the viewers? Do they see what I see?

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

COLLECTIONS

W&M Properties, Norwalk, CT

Lincoln Financial, Riverfront Recapture Park, Hartford, CT

Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

COMMISSIONS

Stage Design for Theater XII (3 Leonard Melfi plays & 1 Sam Shepard play), Off Broadway, New York, 1978