Meet Logan Woodle | Metalsmith and Chair, Department of Visual Arts, Coastal Carolina University

We had the good fortune of connecting with Logan Woodle and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Logan, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
One of the key balances I seek to strike in my work is between risk and play. I need my work to be playful, and to be playful I think you must embrace failure. My challenge is to find the place where that risk of failure is meaningful without being paralyzing. There are two key places this balance can best be seen in my resent work.

When I shifted my work into pewter, it was to embrace risk. When working in silver I could surround myself with the historical, tangible, and conceptual value the metal holds. These factors had led me to feel like I knew the result of any piece I made, even before I made it. Frankly, I grew bored. Once I shifted into pewter, it was very much the opposite. It was on me to prove the value of the material, and to elevate and highlight its historical and conceptual value. In exchange for the increased risk of failure this brought to my work I gained a more elastic and dynamic making experience. In pewter, the metal itself is soft and more often breaks during the making process, but I am able to recycle and repair it much more easily. Essentially, with pewter I have made it easier to fail, but also decreased the risks that failure signifies.

At the same moment as I shifted my materials to pewter, I also felt challenged to revisit my goals as a conceptual artist. My work has always been based in narrative, and for about a decade those narratives were carefully chosen for how they told a single story. I presented viewers with a linear path, without detours or contradictions. This insulated me from risk, but as society reexamined its narratives during the pandemic, I felt called to push past the comfort of a controlled narrative. In response, I let go of linear narrative allowing my work to shift points of view, contradict itself, and undermine its own assumptions. Without a doubt, I am now inviting viewers to question the integrity of each of my pieces, but I deeply feel that this risk is worth its reward. It allows the viewer to build a fuller and more honest understanding of the unreliability of all of our histories. It asks who is telling the story, why they are telling it, and who is meant to hear.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My career is built around being a teacher. I love being an artist, but its the challenge of problem solving in the classroom that fuels my making. I adore the moment when a student realizes they made something they thought was impossible. Over the last few years, I have grown frustrated by the barriers presented by the cost of materials in the classroom. Metalsmithing students are priced out of working in silver, but silver is considered a professional standard. As a result, students who come in without lots of family support do not see the awards and opportunities the few who can finance silver see. In response, I have refocused my career on centering pewter in metalsmithing classrooms. This material levels the financial playing field, but is restricted in most school studios. Challenging the assumptions and myths around pewter so it can be brought into academic studios has become my primary goal as an artist and teacher.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Our area is full of places everyone sees, but I love the spots people don’t go. When I have folks in town I let them mix and match, but here are the spots that I put at the top:

1) Taqueria dos Hermanos
2) Donziels Restaurant
3) The Whole Food Mediterranean Grill
4) Kindbelly
5) Rivertown Bistro
6) Carolina Cheese and Provisions

1) Woodburry Wildlife Management Tract
2) Brookgreen Gardens
3) L.W.Paul Living History Farm
4) Any swamp in SC any time of year is the most beautiful place in town
5) Myrtle Beach Art Museum
6) Vereen Memorial Park and Gardens

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Cappy Counard and Sue Amendolara made me the artist and teacher I am today. The two of them taught me to find joy in making, love teaching, and how to balance work and family. They are rock stars, amazing people, and two of the most generous people I have ever met.

Website: LoganWoodle.com

Instagram: @LoganWoodleMetalsmith

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/logan.woodle