Thor's Bio and Other Information and List of Shows

About The Artist; Thor V Sigstedt - was born in Colorado and was raised in Santa Fe; Colorado Springs;  also  Oakhurst and Idyllwild, California; and lived the majority of his life since he was 1 year old in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area.  He has lived over 31 years on his fantastic 40 acre property called Adventure Trails Ranch in a canyon area called Spirit Valley which is 15 miles east of Santa Fe on Galisteo Creek.  Thor raised his family  there in the deep country and built his adobe home there (as well as a few other notable structures, including a 3,000 square foot shop/studio and a Japanese-style Teahouse).  He has been doing artwork of all sorts his whole life; his first woodcarving at 8, tutored by his grandfather (a famous Swedish woodcarver who carved the Vasa Orden in Stockholm) and his father (who is a master carver and stained-glass artist) and learned dance from his mother (who taught music and dance and had him perform – folk dances-  since he can remember) and lived with his grandmother for many years;  teaching  him about horses, manners,  gardening and immersed him in literature, art history, poetry; also hers and others’ fine art. 

Thor’s education is wide ranged; including St. John’s College (classics) in SantaFe, studied drafting in the wilds of Northern New Mexico (El Rito, where he took a little blue bus through the back road to Taos gathering students from Truchas, Penasco, Las Trampas, San Juan and La Madera), calculus and poetry  at University of Colorado, was admitted into the Architecture School at UNM and studied art, architecture and engineering, continued his art studies at Highlands University  (bronze foundry and cast iron) and Santa Fe Community College (glass casting). Also a ‘grad’ from“Donkey College”, USA!

Thor began making high quality custom furniture and woodcarving in the mid- seventies and continues to ply that trade, eventually incorporating rustic design into the mix.  He also built his first house before he was 25 years old (see At Home In The Sun-color glossy book on early solar dwellings in the US), then his houses along the Galisteo Creek as well as designing and building, by hand, many homes and additions in and around Santa Fe County.  Thor designed and worked with the Historical Design Review Board, and built – again himself with one helper- a charming adobe guest house on Camino Del Monte Sol in 2007; also creating light fixtures and numerous cast and welded architectural ornaments and works of art. Thor is also absorbed in writing (writes a column, at present, called “Sunrise and Sunset in Santa Fe”, on a wide range of subjects: can see on www.santafe.com , Santa Fe Monthly), photography (juried show for Galisteo Basin Photography Exhibition), dancing, “ranching” (member of the American Donkey Association)  and “land ethics” (helped draft the WRAS-Watershed Restoration Action Strategy for Galisteo Watershed) and music (has entertained with groups and solo at numerous Iron Pours, Santa Fe Fiestas and numerous other venues).

Around 2000, Thor took a strong interest in fine art, bronze casting and rustic sculpture and eventually built his own foundry in order to accomplish a major staircase project (see Crescent House, Su Casa Magazine, Winter 2007, color glossy photos of his work) and has created numerous sculptures since then of bronze, glass, wood, and cast iron.  He has shown works in numerous shows all around the state (Taos,Las Vegas, Eldorado, Santa Fe) and in other states (Montana and Colorado) and has collectors from Pennsylvania, California, Colorado , Arizona, New Mexico; also Norway and Italy.ik

 Thor’s styles includes a sort of post modern rustic/ wabi-sabi influence ; exploring those traditional lines between humans, animals and plants; process oriented work; efforts to “cure Nature Deficit Disorder…..one person at a time”.  Thor has been “doodling” for most of his life and has learned to appreciate those forms that emerge out of the semi-conscious and distracted mind.  He loves the natural textures and forms of, for instance, dead trees and seeks to create forms that show vitality, weight, skeptical spiritualism, some forms of super-realism, post-modern work and process oriented installations, both conceptual and aesthetic.  He loves to work with his hands, body and mind together, thus clearing the path for sculpture that shows the marks of a human being making something.  He is a incurable do-it-yourselfer, so has gained skills that cover a huge range of the built and formed world. He appears with a tape measure and a leatherman tool on his hip, a camera in his pocket; guitar, cowboy hat, dance boots and partner in tow.

   Thor now has numerous works at the Canyon Road Gallery, The Last Gallery On The Right.  505-660-5663 Website/Blogs: http://thor-sigstedt.blogspot.com   www.adventuretrails.org  www.santafe.com

Studio: 505-466-4403   and cell: 505-660-5835    email:  adventuretrails@earthlink.net 

Basic Short List of Collectors and Shows:

Dr. Timothy Fleming and Barbara Deaux, Nambe, New Mexico

Anhara Lovato, Tesuque, New Mexico

Frank Clifford, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Connie Eichsteadt, Lower Canoncito, New Mexico

Jane Yee and Roger McNew, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Debbie and Darryl Hickey, Black Forest, Colorado

Mike Fischer, Orchis Island/San Juans, Washington

Emaho Montoya, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Michael and Andrea Buchanan, Santa Fe, New Mexico and Scotland, UK

Richard  and Lillian Treen, Stavanger, Norway and Citta del Castello, Italy

Thea Osato, Baltimore, Maryland

June Hutchinson, Lower Canoncito, New Mexico

Bernard Ewell, Canoncito, New Mexico

Gregory Ghent, Eldorado, New Mexico

Cherry and Bob Payne, Eldorado, New Mexico

Basic Short List of  Art Shows:

-Burris Hall, Highland’s University, Las Vegas, New Mexico (numerous shows)

-Western Cast Iron Art Alliance Biennial Conferences: Denver, Colorado and

  Missoula, Montana

-Iron Tribe: numerous shows (international cast iron art group)

-TIGA: juried glass art shows, Taos, New Mexico; numerous shows at local galleries.

-EXEX  “Excerpt” Shows: numerous shows; curator-Dean Howell

-Last Gallery On The Right: numerous shows

-Santa Fe International Folk Art Museum:  arts and crafts biennial

-Currents New Media; international digital arts juried show, Nichos project 2016