Nathan Robles. Sculptor.
From the time I was fairly
young I discovered within myself a subtle need to create. It didn’t matter if I
was carving wood or modeling clay, but if I stopped for too long I would become
restless and anxious until I began again. Since those early days, that subtle
desire to make art with my hands has intensified. For me, sculpting fills gaps
in my soul. When I am a part of making something beautiful it adds more meaning
to my life. I am an artist because I need to be one.
I love
to see new life come into the materials I work with. The steel I weld with is
often rescued from the scrap pile. It has been tossed aside and deemed useless.
It is essentially trash. As I continue to work with it a wonderful
transformation begins to take place. That old dead material is somehow revived
and reborn. It is inspiring to me to see a work of art given a soul, and I hope
others will also be inspired as they experience the work of my hands.
Biography
My
earliest childhood memories begin at my family’s home in Buckeye Arizona where
we lived from my birth in 1986 until the early nineties. Just after I finished
kindergarten my family moved from Arizona to Washington where dad worked
at the Hanford cleanup site for nearly 20 years. From the time I first became
interested in sculpture my parents and other family members and friends have
always been supportive. They would get me modeling clay for birthdays and
Christmas, and I still have and use the Dremel tool my father gave me out of
the blue to encourage my carving when I was in high school.
I
studied art at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, WA from 2009 to 2011, and
graduated with a degree in art from BYU-Idaho in 2014. In 2007 I married my
high school sweetheart Nina, who has been my greatest support in pursuing my
career as an artist. Together we currently reside in our home town of Kennewick
Washington with our growing family of five boys.