Joshua Pass

"The ability to appreciate and celebrate some little detail of life everyday is to live an amazing life. We should always be learning and moving forward."

Indigenous art, vast open landscape, and dramatic plain changes of the American Southwest shape Joshua’s artistic expression. Architecture, relationships, and ritual are also inspirations for his sculpture. Architecture with its strong, bold lines and graceful arcs, and the way history has always marked and evaluated civilizations’ knowledge, wealth, art, and accomplishments through what they’ve built. Relationships are important as they are a study of tension, space, and energy between people, the environment, and objects. Joshua loves ritual and sees its presence in every level of our lives, from the starting of our day to the most important sacred ceremonies in our life. The ritual that he deeply connects with is the ringing of a bell, stating, “There is something special about the sound of a bell that marks a time, occasion, or completes a thought or prayer.” The results of his work are simple and bold pieces that visually narrate the dynamics he experiences within our world.

From TIG welding to hand forging and using a hydraulic press, Joshua’s work is finely crafted from stainless steel and bronze with accents of stone. All of his unique textures and surface finishes are created by hand. He abstracts his subject matter into simple, strong, and bold shapes. Through placement, dynamics and texture, Joshua narrates the desired story behind each individual sculpture while also achieving a visual Zen-like feeling.

Joshua excelled in art and shop classes when he was young and spent most of his time engaging in artistic activities. After high school he worked as a sheet metal fabricator, learning the ins and outs of precision manufacturing and the machines of the trade. Wanting more of a career than machine shops could offer, Joshua enrolled in Metro State College of Denver. There he fell in love with the work of Henry Moore and Barbra Hepworth and their strong, simple abstract sculptures. His studies ranged from wood-cut printmaking, sculpture, and metalsmithing to cultural anthropology and science, culminating with a BFA in metalsmithing. He worked for luxury jewelry designer, Todd Reed, as a shop manager and lead goldsmith. He then spent a year working for Colorado’s Living Design Studios. The most profound training he received was a month long workshop at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center with guest teacher Vivian Beer. She provided crucial keys and missing pieces to his training,