Turning Dreams into Reality

Albuquerque sculptor combines youthful fears with humor fantasy and wit to create magical objects

BY WESLEY PULKKA

FOR THE JOURNAL

Childhood whimsy lurks somewhere near the edge of magic, so Albuquerque sculptor Ed Haddaway must be a magician.

Haddaway said he has been working with shapes and colors in his backyard for most of his life. “I started arranging objects and building structures at an early age and I guess I never had the sense to quit,” Haddaway said.

Haddaway practices both with whimsy and machine in his 19-foot-tall painted steel sculpture titled “Three Spirit Passage” that will be shown during “Pier Walk ’99” at the Navy Pier in Chicago beginning Tuesday through Oct, 15. The prestigious and highly competitive national outdoor sculpture exhibition features works by approximately 100 artists.

            Haddaway’s brightly painted welded steel sculpture is combination of a large white doorway, an ascending red spiral and three shapes.

“The doorway and spiral represent transitional starts of being. The trees, which I have worked with for a long time, caught my interest when I took a course on Faulkner and studied “The sound and The Fury,” Faulkner used a lot of tree symbolism in the book. His trees were rooting in the earth but reached heavenward, I liked that.

            He said New Leaf Gallery of San Francisco submitted his work for jury review for the “Pier Walk” show.

            “I put together the maquette in a few days, painted it and mailed it off. When I got the letter of acceptance, I had to read it several times Letters of acceptance look and sound a lot like letter of rejection, so I had to make sure that my piece was in,” Haddaway said.

            New Leaf Gallery owner John Dunning discussed Haddaway’s sculpture from his Berkeley office.

            “We discovered Ed’s work at the LewAllen Gallery during a trip to Santa Fe in 1992. We fell in love with its wit and whimsy,” he said.

“His work is filled with humor, and not many artists can actually pull that off without becoming trite corny or kitschy. His work also has a dark side which keep it from becoming cute.”

Dunning said perhaps the side is a reflection of Haddaway’s youth during the 1950’s, when the atomic bomb loomed over the land.

“A little of that fear touches his work,” Dunning said.

But, he added, Haddaway’s work is more a reflection of the artist than society.

“The truly refreshing thing about his work is he never plays to the market or pays any attention to art tends. He just does what he does,” he said.

            Haddaway’s independence has won him recognition with a recent public commission at the Doña Ana Community College in Las Cruces. His work also is in the permanent collections of the New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts, Albuquerque Museum and several corporations. Numerous solo and juried exhibitions around the country have featured his work since he opened his professional studio in the early 1970s.

            “When I was in graduate school, I realized that teaching wasn’t what I wanted to do. I just wanted to make things, so I took what was left of my school money, bought some tools and went to work. In the beginning I had a job at Laura Carpenter’s gallery in Dallas and sort of learned how the art business works,” Haddaway said.

            He followed his dream to become an artist and still pays attention to the content of his dreams to make art. He explained that as a 4-year-old he remembers walking down the hallway at night and being afraid of looking into doorways along the hall.

            “It was upstairs in my family’s house and I don’t know what I was afraid of, but it was a good start for making art. My dreams are about places rather than actions. Years ago this woman gave a lecture about doors and windows being feminine symbols. I guess that instead of my going from room to room, I’ve been going from womb to womb,” Haddaway said.

            Exhibitions at the Shidoni Gallery and other local venues led to his acceptances at LewAllen Contemporary in Santa Fe.

            Gallery owner Arlene LewAllen said she carried Haddaway’s work since she moved to the Plaza in 1992.

            “The most striking thing about his (Haddaway’s) work is its good humor, fantasy and fun. Its kind of like a (Alexander) Calder mobile. When I went to the Calder show, everyone leaving had a smile on their face,” she said. “Haddaway’s work also perks your humor and is very accessible for both adults and children.”

            LewAllen said one of her favorite series Haddaway did was “Seven Nights.” The series consisted of beds with things popping out of them.

            “One was counting chickens instead of sheep, another was a ladder coming out of the bed with a dog hanging down. All things that would perhaps go through your mind in dreams,” LewAllen said. “I loved those little beds with all those thoughts floating about them. That was a great series.

            “His work has matured over the years. I think his best work reveals its essence immediately. It hits you right away and makes you smile. I’ve just placed Ed’s work at a restaurant right down the street and the clients who eat there love his stuff.”

            New Mexico art collector Paul Bardacke said he has been interested in Haddaway’s sculpture since the early 1970s.

            “When I first saw his work, I recognized him as a real talent. He is a serious artist, but he brings a tremendous sense of humor to his sculpture along with exquisite technique and execution. I like having his beautiful art around me because it never gets tired. Although his work can remind you of someone like (Alexander) Calder, I think it is totally unique,” Bardacke said.

            Despite the wide acceptance of his art Haddaway said he remains realistic about the nuts and bolts of being an artist.

            “I recently got into a thing up in the town of Evergreen, Colorado. They’re going to take two large pieces in June and put the work up for a year. The show is called the “Heart of Evergreen Sculpture Walk” and it looks like a nice deal. In general, the phone seems to be ringing more these days, but I love on ground level,” he said. “I have to load up this thing (“Three Spirit Passage”) and get it to the show. I worry about what you do with a trailer in Chicago, they just don’t have places for them.

            “Recognition looks good on paper, but it doesn’t get the job done on a daily basis.”