Hib Sabin, American sculptor and educator, has spent decades developing a personal lexicon of meaning within his work. Sabin has traveled the world extensively, exploring various cultures, religions, stories, traditions and arts. He combines his personal experiences and thoughts with these elements and what he produces are spectacular almagamations and variations on themes. Legends and mythology, literature and psychology have all gone into the mix and been distilled into an ineffable feeling that permeates each sculpture. Sabin works predominantly in juniper wood, carving masks, spirit bowls and canoes, elongated birds, and a tableaux of human/animal hybrids depicting scenes of travel and connection. By melding mythological traditions and characters from around the world, Sabin taps into a meta-myth, evoking a global pantheon of multiple influences. Themes of transformation are common in his work – specifically transitional moments between life, dreaming, and death. His ravens, owls, eagles, bears, wolves and cougars are stand-ins for the human soul, and the many states the soul can achieve.
wood sculpture
Wood sculpture »
After pursuing a thirty-five year career as a painter, Sabin reinvented himself as a sculptor. He works mainly with Juniper wood as it is native to his New Mexico home.
bronze sculpture
bronze sculpture »
Sabin selects individual wood sculptures to be translated into limited edition bronzes.
drawings
drawings »
Sabin creates preliminary drawings in preparation for each of his sculptures.
exhibitions »
Hib Sabin’s works are currently available in galleries across the United States. His primary representation is in Seattle, Washington, Bend, Oregon and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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about the artist
Hib Sabin, born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1935, holds degrees in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia’s Academy of Fine Arts. He earned an MFA degree at the University of Pittsburgh and taught at Dickinson and at Franklin & Marshall Colleges. Hib began his career as an oil painter, but switched from paint to sculpture in 1991. He has traveled extensively worldwide with a particular interest in regional art forms and their associated mythologies. He has lived and worked in Santa Fe, New Mexico since 1981.