Video by Adam Vincent

About the Artist

Claude Zervas (b. 1963) grew up on 40 acres of land near Deming, which is near the Middle Fork Nooksack River. He began making art after a short attendance at Western Washington’s art department. Zervas then moved to Paris in the 1980’s, where he carried out a career as a computer science engineer. He lives and works in Seattle, using his past skills and experiences to create works of art. In a statement for the Bellingham Herald, Claude Zervas talks about growing up in northwest Washington. “Having grown up there, it just has such a deep connection that I can’t help but be influenced by it,” he says. “Maybe those memories, and just the sensibility of the places creep through. And maybe because of the change I see in it every time I come back to visit, there’s a little bit of sadness involved in it.” (Bikman)

About the Sculpture

Nooksack Middle Fork was installed in January 2016, and modern-day technology is what made this sculpture possible. The footage of the river was filmed using drones, devices that have been on the forefront of technological advancement in recent years. The sculpture includes four high-definition, flat-screen televisions, another relatively recent technological advancement. Twenty, or even ten, years ago, this would have been a very difficult work to produce. It was inspired by Zervas’ connection to the river, and he says the idea came from fond childhood memories.

Other Work

Claude Zervas’ other works include the Quasicrystals series, which are a series of colorful, geometric paintings exhibited in the Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle, WA. Zervas says the works “represent an imaginary taxonomy of quasicrystals that I extracted from a virtual mine of my own making. A sweaty, glittering, alien mine.” (Greg Kucera Gallery) He has also done works that incorporate wood and concrete such as Log and Beam, Want for No One, and The Farmer. Some of his earlier works, like Skagit and Nudibranch, are sculptures made with LED or CCFL lights.

 

By Claire Swearingen and Adam Vincent

 

Bibliography

 

Bikman, Margaret. “New Public Art by Claude Zervas at WWU.” Bellingham Herald, 6 Jan. 2016. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

<http://www.bellinghamherald.com/entertainment/article51370735.html>.

 

Jesus, Luis De. “CLAUDE ZERVAS.” James Harris Gallery – Project Room (2010): n.pag. 8 Feb. 2017. <https://luisdejesus.com/docs/artists/c_zervas_full.pdf>.

 

Kucera, Greg. “Claude Zervas.” Greg Kucera Gallery, Inc. n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. <http://www.gregkucera.com/zervas.htm>.

 

Zervas, Claude. “Claude Zervas.” Claude Zervas. 2002. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. <http://www.claudezervas.com/>.