About

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Sean M Gillespie’s award-winning sculptures illuminate the innate beauty of wood. The natural grain and variety of wood provides a dynamic canvas on which to create. Sean's contemporary designs incorporate colored metal, hand carved textures and graphic elements with exotic hardwoods from all over the world. 

Sean’s inspiration is captured from travel, architecture, landscapes and unexpected details of the world around us. He sees everyday life as a composition and simplifies his observations into line, rhythm, shape and movement, which provides a visual vocabulary to create designs while imbuing each sculpture with a unique personality. Each piece is conversational and speaks to the viewer in a distinct way. Being an abstraction, it can highlight new ideas as we ourselves change over time.
 

Wood is a living medium. Trees can live thousands of years and grant us life and comfort. Wood warms a space and creates a specific mood. It brings nature inside our homes and reminds us of our humble origins as part of larger interconnected world.
 

Objects give our lives permanence and meaning. They elevate and expand the environments in which we work, play and live, improving the quality and experience of daily life. Objects restore us to our given dignity, elegance and beauty.

Sean earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design from the University of Akron in 1994. He began his career as a professional graphic artist. A few years later, Sean enrolled in a woodworking class at Santa Fe Community College (SFCC). Sean adapted quickly to working with this new medium and

discovered the tactile experience of shaping and manipulating wood. He began melding his design background with these newfound skills to produce one-of-a-kind studio furniture. Sean graduated from the SFCC's Fine Woodworking Program in 2003 and the directors invited him to stay and teach part time at the college.

During the next few years, as Sean taught, showed in galleries, and completed commissions. He began incorporating non-functional elements and alternative materials into his work after studying with a prominent wood artist also teaching at SFCC. Sean began creating expressive wall and freestanding sculptural pieces. 

Sean moved to Denver in 2005 and was hired as a part time instructor in Red Rocks Community College’s Fine Woodworking Department, and a few years later, added instructing in the Interior Design Department at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. He has taught more than 3000 students over his career. He loves keeping the art of woodworking alive and being engaged and inspired by the next generation of craftspeople.

In 2007, Sean founded Fine Art Woodworking LLC, and began exhibiting and selling his sculptural pieces at prominent national juried shows and gained representation from top galleries in Santa Fe, Park City, Palm Desert and Denver. All his disparate interests began to emerge as a focused vision. Sean built experiences as a designer, furniture maker, sculptor and ultimately as an artist.  

Sean still lives by his studio in Denver, Colorado. The demand for his sculptural work turned into a life of travel,  design , craft and discovery that has lasted over 17 years. He experienced much success, won many awards and now collaborates with art consultants,  designers and architects on corporate installations across the country. Sean finds great satisfaction working with wood and still teaches to share that experience.