New Beginnings: The evolution of a renowned Louisiana sculptor

Nationally recognized sculptor Bill Binnings created the “Sonata” Award of Excellence for Louisiana Homes and Gardens’ upcoming Design Awards, to be held in October 2009. The bronzed figurative piece measures about 12-inches high and will be presented to honor the top award recipients in select design categories during an elegant ceremony at Houmas House plantation.

Binnings has been recognized by local and national galleries, museums, and publications throughout his remarkable 40-year career. In the beginning, the budding young sculptor had to support his artistic endeavors as a New Orleans fireman, as an executive in an international construction company, and as a merchant marine. “I always kept doing the sculpture,” Binnings says. “I entered art through a back door,” he explains. “My dad didn’t want to pay for art; he wanted me to have a ‘real career.’ So I went to LSU, first in architecture, but I took a lot of art electives.”

After LSU, Binnings earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Tulane and then a Master of Fine Arts at Ohio State University. “When I graduated with a Master’s degree, I tried to get a job teaching in universities, but I had to do a lot of other things along the way,” he points out.

In 1976, the States-Item newspaper ran a feature story on Binnings that portrayed his intriguing life as a New Orleans fireman and a prolific sculptor who had built a foundry for producing sculpture at the firehouse where he worked. Passionate about his art, Binnings later built another foundry at USL, where he was an art professor. “They still have it,” he reveals. “Bronze casting is quite a specialty that not too many people acquire. Making sculpture is such a contemplative thing because changes occur slowly, but to execute it in a permanent form is a long, labor-intensive process,” he says.

“In 1993, my wife and I decided this was what I wanted to do, so I built a studio and a foundry in St. Bernard Parish. That one perished during hurricane Katrina,” he says. “When Katrina hit, we had things lined up at the studio, including a class I was going to teach and three commissions, and other people were also working in the foundry. Katrina wiped all that out.”

Binnings had 52 bronze sculptures in the studio when Katrina hit. “We had to dig it all out of Katrina mud,” he says. “I lost three pieces that were in progress but I didn’t lose the bronzes. Our inventory actually supported us while I was rebuilding the studio and foundry.”

After losing everything in hurricane Katrina, Binnings began building a new studio and foundry in Waldheim near Covington. “When we started over after Katrina, it wasn’t just a matter of building a new studio, it was a matter of rebuilding a whole career, but one with 40 years of experience and a track record,” he notes.

“I finished my apprenticeship, and I am now in my true art career,” Binnings reflects. “I now have a new foundry and studio just as fine as I could ever hope for. All those years of building foundries taught me how to build a new one myself. It is probably the best one in the southern region, and is now part of a commercial operation.”

Binnings’ new private studio and foundry opened in September 2008. “Since Katrina, the whole environment for art has been different on a national level,” he points out. “The economy went bust. The economic situation is a second Katrina. But I never stopped having work.”

Since Katrina, Binnings has completed two major commissions and is working on several others. “I have stayed pretty busy,” he remarks. “I have been back in the studio since last September, and the market has changed in that the gallery sales are completely flat, but the public commissions have been good.”

Binnings recently completed a statue for the city of Gretna and also one for the St. Tammany School Board, and is now at work on a second one in St. Tammany Parish. “The one in Gretna is an oversized statue of a baseball player who was in the Hall of Fame,” he explains. “We recently installed two life-sized children chasing butterflies with stained glass wings in front of St. Tammany’s new administration building. The other one I am working on is also of two life-sized children; one is sitting on a bench and one is standing behind her. They are discussing a book. This will be placed in the same plaza.”

The acclaimed sculptor creates limited edition series as part of his ongoing repertoire. “Right now I am working on a series called River of Life. The other is Basque Dancer. They have more in common with each other than any of the other series,” he reveals. “They are more finely realized and they have more lyrical lines than the others. They seem to have a maturity that I don’t see in the previous pieces,” he reflects. “Like I said, I am entering into my second career.” Binnings works on miscellaneous pieces as well. “I was recently commissioned by a Haitian doctor. He described to me what he remembered of Port-au-Prince. It is being cast as a random series.”

The artist’s series include Isadora, Allegorical, Fruitage of the Spirit, Seed Bearer, Legend of Ne’Ro Maronne, and Song of Solomon. “The Isadora series is open-ended; so far there are nine. Song of Solomon is also open-ended. Allegorical includes eight to 12 pieces that I have already completed, and the Seed Bearer has six to eight pieces,” he explains. “Since Katrina, I have been casting the pieces that are in the previous series. They are numbered according to their series.”

The artist often generates a straightforward figurative image, as in the group of sculptures depicting the grace and fluidity of classical ballet and Isadora Duncan’s contribution to modern dance. Sometimes it may be expressed allegorically, as in the grouping that has a scriptural or spiritual theme. “My expressions of the constant theme are always evolving, but they are always in celebration that we are, can be, and must attain to be the highest of God’s physical creation,” he notes.

Inspiration comes from many sources, Binnings explains. “It might be an image when I am reading something, or it might be something I wake up with in the middle of the night. I don’t know where they come from. The sculpture makes itself as I am working on it. It demands a certain kind of form.”

The bronze “Sonata” Award that Binnings created for Louisiana Homes and Gardens’ annual Design Awards was inspired by a Beethoven sonata. “It is an exclusive piece that will be used from year to year. It is a limited edition,” Binnings reveals. “The forms and the lines and the fluidity of the sculpture were all influenced by the sonata.”

We are honored to have the contribution of this world-class sculptor for the Louisiana Home and Gardens Design Awards and we look forward to Binnings’ future endeavors as a great Louisiana artist. ✦