Len Zeoli, Sculpture

Len Zeoli, Sculpture Sculpture, Custom Woodworking, Furniture, Design, Interiors The making part stuck, but not the other. Len always had more questions than answers. Make art.”

A Brief Bio for a Nonlinear and Ongoing Life

Born into a working family, Len was always making things for his father’s construction business or himself. His family was religious and his youth was full of rules, restrictions and a sense of knowing the answers to all the important questions. Not fitting into the public schools because of his belief system and not fitting into the religious order b

ecause of his questions, Len spent much time alone in nature. He loved the change of seasons in New England. And he loved the variety of trees, always the trees. He spent hours watching the squirrels and birds in a little patch of woods behind his home. When not outdoors Len could be found in the local library reading about natural history. Len’s dream as a boy was to be a forest ranger and live in the woods among all those other living things. Besides being fascinating to him, they never talked back or told him what to do or who to be. Getting a secular education was not possible, so Len’s first college degree was in theology. Again, there were lots more questions than answers. The war in Vietnam disrupted any future plans for studies and consequently he did not get back to science studies until much later in life. In the intervening years, Len took up another deep interest of his, woodworking. Between 1978 and 1996 he operated his own cabinet and furniture shops. He also learned pattern making and boat building while honing his skills as a craftsman. At 48 years old Len went back to college to reclaim his boyhood dream. He ended up working with endangered species reintroduction and management. A PhD in conservation biology was earned in 2008. One of the hardest things for him about being in school was not having a shop, but eventually he and his wife bought a house with an old building that became his studio while he finished school. Not finding work related to his education, Len dove completely into the studio and became a full-time artist. His art career had begun earlier in the 1980's when he was turning bowls and selling them at shows and in galleries around the Pacific Northwest. Now it blossomed. It turned out that making art and improving his abilities to do so was the most joyful and fulfilling part of his life. A great assist on his journey came when his wife earned her BFA. Len says that he learned so much from her and her process that he too received an education in art. And finally he gave himself permission to say “I am an artist” and get on with it as a core part of his existence. Len became an artist through the circumstances of his life, compelled by a desire to express himself in visual and tactile ways. The whole thing has been non-linear, sometimes seeming all upside down and backwards. He reflects, “I kept wanting something that did not seem to want me. The result is that instead of me trying to find my passion and make it happen, I let my passion find me, which really means to do what it is in me to do.

01/25/2025
06/29/2024

Beautiful new show opening in Portland today called "Whisper".

"Origins", a sculpture that references cosmic beginnings, is a show named "Abstract Sanctuary", a signature presentatio...
02/26/2024

"Origins", a sculpture that references cosmic beginnings, is a show named "Abstract Sanctuary", a signature presentation of Verum Ultimum Gallery. The virtual show is now live at this link: https://www.verumultimumartgallery.com/11th-annual-abstract-sanctuary
I am privileged to show alongside some excellent artists and their work. You will find stunning graphics, sculptures, colors and moods, plus beauty and other amazements. Here is a photo of Origins. It is made from green ash that I harvested in Viola, Idaho.

"Coming Home"Furniture/Sulcpture Sale
07/23/2019

"Coming Home"
Furniture/Sulcpture Sale

01/13/2017

2016, in review, became a year of more accomplishment than I might have supposed in mid-winter. Work for the shop may be slow that time of year, but art is never on the sidelines. In January, I was deep into a prototype Adirondack chair that in April was awarded “Best professional design” at the Chair Affair in Boise. I have one of our Interior Design students (I do not remember now who it was) to thank for asking me if I was sending a piece of furniture with them to the show. It prompted me to get busy.
It was also my second year creating large outdoor installation pieces. Two new ones were shown at the Little Pink House Gallery in Genesee, ID, where I participated in two shows this year. They are “Inception” and “Moonrise”. The curator and gallery owner is Ellen Vieth (https://www.facebook.com/LittlePinkHouseGallery). Her support and encouragement are enormous and help keep me on track.
Speaking of installations,” The Ancestors” will stay up until August of 2017 in Couer d’Alene at the corner of 6th and Sherman.
Collaborative sculpture with a painter friend, Haley Waddington, gave me a chance to explore ideas and be less serious. Being serious is a terrible thing. She painted two of my sculptures and I created a sculpture, Dark Beauty, based on some of her paintings. She is an active artist in Tacoma, WA.
Many new smaller sculptures were finished, two in my geology series. And as always, a lot of what I call 3D sketches, really models or maquettes for study and to record ideas. One group of models, a series I call “Origins”, became actual finished pieces.
Last in time, but not last in importance, because it was the highlight of my year, is an award I received from one of our Interior Design students at the University of Idaho. Blown away, and humbled. Thank you, Erica, for selecting me as a mentor. You are a joy to work with.
Thanks to all of you for supporting and appreciating what I do and how I do it. Questions, comments and observations are always in order, as are inquiries about purchasing or showing my work.

Accomplishments this great year past.
01/12/2017

Accomplishments this great year past.

03/03/2016
Process photos. From the forest to the street.
03/03/2016

Process photos. From the forest to the street.

Address

221 Thornton Drive
Sequim, WA
98382

Telephone

(509) 339-3473

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