A sculpture by a South Carolina artist is currently on display outside the Center for the Arts near Lake Mary Nell. Its purpose? To provide viewers with “a sense of stability, balance and centeredness.”
“I see my sculptures as the vessels of my spirit,” Jarvis said in his artist statement. “They are physical objects in a real, tangible world and can be witnessed in a tactile reality. At the same time they are an expression of my being which reflects my insights, my dreams and all that I find sacred in the world.”
Jarvis was born in Raleigh, N.C., and grew up in Holly Springs, N.C. He earned his undergraduate degree from East Carolina University. According to a biographical statement, Jarvis later lived in Eastern Europe in Estonia and studied at the Estonian Academy of Art for a year. On returning to the United States he went back to ECU to earn a master’s degree.
“As an artist I feel the need to express the ever-awakening nature of the heart in its response to the unfolding perceptions of experience,” Jarvis said in his statement. “With each of my sculptures I come to a clearer understanding of the creative nature of the universe and its manifestations in relation to my self.
“I think that discovering who we truly are is one of the greatest and most profound experiences.”