A Day in the Studio of Peter Woytuk with Friends

Peter Woytuk's studio in Kent, CT, may remind you of an auto repair garage. Every surface and shelf is chock-a-block with bronze or iron fruits, birds, tiny animals. Three laptops lie open on a dusty table. The space, just behind the Kent firehouse, is huge, with a warehouse door on one side that opens to a grass and dirt field — big enough for bronze bulls to come and go, but not enormous elephants.

Woytuk, of course, is the most famous sculptor from the Northwest Corner. In fact, many consider him the finest sculptor of animals in the world. His robust bulls have for years welcomed students and parents to The Hotchkiss School campus, while his life-size elephants have enlivened Columbus Circle in New York City. Woytuk makes smaller pieces, too. In his last show in Kent, a group of small,  heavy, resting bulls created from brown and green translucent glass were showstoppers.

Casting large pieces requires expert foundries with unusual capabilities. Woytuk years ago found companies in China and East Asia that could meet his requirements, so he moved to Thailand, where he and his wife built a large compound north of Bangkok. He spends about 10 months a year there, receiving commissions — he has a lengthy backlog — and designing pieces on his computers.

Now Woytuk is opening his Kent studio to the public for the first time. Working with Judith Singelis of Argazzi Art in Lakeville, CT, who now represents him along with his major gallery in Santa Fe, NM, Woytuk has spruced up his space, though not too much, and painted a wooden partition wall white to show work from six other artists. Two are friends of his, four are Argazzi artists.

Woytuk intends to show a variety of new work, some created within the last week. (Be sure to look for the delightful salt and pepper shakers made from small birds.) He will explain how he works if asked, but he is self-effacing. Dressed in work clothes and a close-fitting knit cap last week, he was open to questions, anxious to show photos of his compound in Thailand and his three beautiful daughters. His wife, equally beautiful, has flown in from Bangkok for the event.

Woytuk has asked his friend, Ken Daniels, to show some drawings. He has invited Phil Grausman, too, the maker of large and small sculpture portraits in white, stripped of detail to reveal the structure of faces.

Singelis will have the lovely pictures of abandoned structures by Victor Mirabelli, the vertical, abstract nature paintings of Michael Kessler, the ceramic and bronze vessels of Ann Mallory and the drawings and paintings of Liz Dexheimer, whose pictures of nature straddle abstract art  and impressionism. (I hope one of her gorgeous, watery paintings of koi will be there.)

Peter Woytuk's studio will be open Saturday, Dec. 12, from 3:30 until at least 7 p.m. There will be music, food and wine. The studio is located at 28 Maple St., behind the Kent firehouse, just east of Rte. 7.