Well beyond 40 years into his career, sculptor Tim de Christopher’s destiny looked all but set in stone.
Despite being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987, the 72-year-old Turners Falls resident has enjoyed a decorated career carving models, gargoyles and statues everywhere from Avenue A to New York City and Italy, with few signs of slowing down. By all considerations, the medium de Christopher relished as “a block of solid space” was symbolic: a stable world where he could forever float freely.
That began to change around five years ago, however — at least, behind the scenes. De Christopher’s condition, which he described as “dormant” for the first few decades after being diagnosed, began to intensify. His stamina waned, while his mobility deteriorated to the point where making his way from one side of the room to the other was a formidable endeavor. After all these years, his world showed real risk of caving in.
When the Worcester Art Museum put out a call for art last October, de Christopher knew it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. It was not only a rare chance to showcase his work at a museum, but a chance to exhibit as part of the Open Door Gallery, a space that has “showcased the work and stories of hundreds of emerging and established artists with disabilities, increased visibility and representation, and served as a platform for community conversation about disability, identity and culture” since 2016, according to a statement by Open Door Arts, a program overseen by the Seven Hills Foundation.
“Everybody maybe knows somebody with a disability, but who goes out of their way to find
somebody disabled?” said de Christopher, praising the foundation and the museum for their initiative.
De Christopher was one of eight artists selected from a pool of 75 applicants to have his work displayed at the gallery for its latest group exhibition, titled “Repeat After Me.” The multimedia exhibit brings together painting, fiber, sculpture and video “as a rich meditation on agency and return,” Open Door Arts’ statement reads.
“Artists with disabilities must be recognized as leaders in shaping their own narratives,” said Open Door Arts Managing Director Nicole Agois. “This exhibit brings that vision to life, illuminating the nuance, complexity and creative power within this talented group of artists.”
“There can be misperceptions about disability and I think we’re a place where we place people with disabilities as leaders,” Gallery Manager Megan Bent reinforced, adding that the gallery provides “space for that authentic layer of nuance” within an artist’s disability to be “powerful, generative and a creative force.”
De Christopher has five sculptures on display at the exhibit, including pieces such as “Never Believe Your Longings Unattended,” “Me and My Wife” and “The Industrial Boat.” He noted observers won’t find qualities within the work that make a direct commentary on disability. This is where their power lies, however, within the gallery: as artwork without an asterisk.
“I don’t think the platform, per se, has anything to do with the artwork, but I think it’s important mostly just because it’s another place where people get overlooked,” de Christopher said.
The gallery hosted an opening reception for “Repeat After Me” on April 16, during which the artists led attendees on a “walk-through” and spoke about their work. Bent said visitors have been “incredibly impressed with the artwork and the materiality” de Christopher brings to the exhibit.
De Christopher has taken pride in seeing how his work “rounds out the show,” noting that
“everything else is on the wall.” He recognized the particular historical significance of his
medium as well, a sentiment he centralized and connected to the present moment in his artist statement.
“We know our ancient history largely from the artifacts in stone left behind by past civilizations. I want to follow in that tradition but with a contemporary twist,” he wrote. “My vision is to capture events, general and specific moments in time, that relay our shared human experience, events that have marked episodes in our collective history.”
The “Repeat After Me” exhibit will be available to view for free Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until May 13. And de Christopher’s chapter at the Worcester Art Museum shows no signs of closing. Bent teased a solo exhibit — running from September to October — that will showcase the full breadth of de Christopher’s artwork in both sculpture and printmaking.
De Christopher also said despite his worsening condition, he has no intentions to stop sculpting. He is currently working on three new installations positioned in downtown Turners Falls, bringing the total in the area to six.
More broadly, when considered metaphorically in the context of de Christopher as an individual, the sculptor’s artist statement foreshadows optimism that his art will endure.
“We do not know what the future holds for us, for mankind as a whole; no one ever really does. But in this day and age, we do not even know if our history will be captured in a permanent way, a way that will survive well into the future,” he wrote. “Where the digital world has so far proven ephemeral and momentary, stone lasts through time.”
