Fine art bronze sculpture, including
dynamic dancers and contemporary figurative classics make up the work of
Moana Ponder. Born to a family of professional artists, she was
immersed in the art world from childhood. Raised in Hawaii she
studied art under Richard Nelson, Edy Burke and John McMahon. She
majored in art at the University of California at Berkley and spent many
years as a watercolorist. Working now in bronze she has taken
various workshops including one under Fritz White and finds three
dimensions both more challenging and a more fulfilling expression of her
inner vision.
Elegant figurative work is her firsts love and includes both
dancers and pensive poses. She delights in motion and her fluid
figures reveal a keen sympathy for human emotion. "There is
great joy in turning a lump of lifeless clay into a piece so alive that
it produces an emotional response from the viewer," she says.
Time spent in Italy has had a profound influence on her work.
In creating the Four Seasons Suite her goal was not to derive each
piece from a particular ballet as was done in creating LeCygne, but to
let each piece be a comment on the character of each season as it would
be interpreted in the ballet idiom.
Other work is based on a love of the environment including the
wind and sea. Windsong, Seabreeze and Anemone are all on this
theme.
She is represented by galleries in California, New Mexico,
Florida, Oregon and Texas. Autumn Leaves was chosen for the National
Sculpture Society Awards Exhibition 2002. Other shows are
Sculpture in the Park, Loveland, Colorado, Fine Art Santa Barbara and
Southwest Invitational Classic, Kerrville, Texas.
Moana Ponder bronzes are collected by private and corporate
collectors both nationally and internationally.
THE FOUR SEASONS SUITE
In creating the Four Seasons Suite my goal was not to derive each
piece from a given ballet as I have don in sculpting Le Cgyne from the
Dying Swan, but to let each piece be a comment on the character of each
season as it would be interpreted in the ballet idiom.
"Herald of Spring" depicts the most energetic and
exuberant of the seasons with a male dance leaping enthusiastically as
he announces the beginning of the year with his trumpet. Since
spring is a young season and perhaps more inclined to humor than the
other seasons, he is held aloft with a literal spring, a little pun for
fun.
"Summer Rhapsody" reflects the thought that summer is a
time for romance. The models for this piece were rehearsing Romeo
and Juliette for the Santa Barbara Ballet as the time I met them.
We tried several different poses before coming up with the one that
perfectly expressed the mood. The ballerina is now traveling with
the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago.
"Autumn Leaves" conveys a quieter mood, one of gentle
reflection. Here the dancer depicts a tree swaying gently as the
breeze swirls the fallen leaves at her feet. The model for this
piece was also a dancer with the Santa Barbara Ballet and she so loved
the piece that she ordered on for herself. By the time I delivered
it she had broken a bone in her foot and was no longer able to dance on
pointe, a melancholy comment on the changes in life's direction we all
face.
Winter is a season that lends itself to both positive and negative
interpretations. In thinking about winter and snow I felt that the
over-ridding emotion for me was one of wonder. It was for this
reason that I chose "Snowflake" a ballerina reaching up to
catch one of the first snowflakes of the season, happily confident that
many more wonders will yet unfold. Appropriately, the model for
this piece was a young Russian ballerina who was in Texas briefly for
Nutcracker.
