"He (the artist) speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of  mystery surrounding  our lives: to our sense of pity, and beauty, and pain."

 Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)

The Artist

When Joseph Conrad wrote these words, he couldn't have been thinking about Charles Pebworth, who was born in 1926, two years after Conrad's death.  Nevertheless, it's a perfect description of the artist whose work captures us with its insight, mystery, and imagination, inviting us to "delight and wonder" again and again.

The sheer magnitude of Pebworth's body of work - over 4,000 works created over a period of fifty years, speaks to a life dedicated to creating works of art and to the creative process. The diversity of his work is also remarkable, having produced sculptures, reliefs, watercolors, drawing, and paintings--an accomplished artist in all media.

Best known for his metal relief sculptures, Charles Pebworth incorporates "refined" found objects from nature in his work, including agates, lapis lazuli, turquoise, malachite, petrified wood and bones.  His materials come from all over the world, including remote locations in Peru and Afghanistan.   Pebworth says, "I look at natural things.  I've always felt that I have a communion with nature and it appears in my work - in the wood and stone - but not necessarily in the forms that I find it."

His home and studio in the woods near Huntsville, Texas, reflect his passion for natural things - they are filled with handmade objects ranging from sculpture and folk art to hand-carved furniture. 

Background:  Diversity and Duality

A member of the Choctaw Tribe, Pebworth grew up in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where his father was employed at the Osage Indian Agency.  His diverse background is clearly reflected in the duality of his perspective and his art.  Describing this duality, Pebworth says, "each piece (of art) contains an expression of my feelings on life and its contrasts - such as my Indian heritage past and the high-technology present, the personal and the impersonal."  The mix of materials in his work, highly polished aluminums combined with warm woods and natural stones, presents sophisticated, while at the same time, almost primitive creations.

Over the course of his career, Pebworth has created a remarkable range of artwork.  In the 60s he worked primarily in wood, with some metal beginning to appear.  During the 70s he was known for his huge architectural commissions, characterized by the towering Woodlands entrance piece, "The Family," and the massive metal relief wall in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Houston.   In the late 80s and early 90s, Pebworth  created a series of totems, pyramids, and shrines.  

In recent years, he has focused on both watercolors and fabricated metals, continuing to create new works to add to his legacy.  Recurring themes in his work include the heart, the female form, angels, and a diversity of familiar, yet playful geometric shapes.

The Teacher

Retired from teaching since 1993, Charles Pebworth was an art professor at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, for over thirty years.  He was a seminal force in the art education arena, developing one of the best sculpture departments in the state.

Sometimes referred to as "the Texas Sculptor," Pebworth established the first foundry in Texas for himself and his students at Sam Houston State University, pioneering new techniques in producing sculpture. When he retired, a Pebworth scholarship was established at the university, which awards funds to outstanding students in the three-dimensional area.

Charles Pebworth also served as a guest professor at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Del Mar College, Corpus Christi; and was a professor of art at the Mexican Field School, Puebla, Mexico.   He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Houston and a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Louisiana State University, and continued with independent study in Carrara, Italy.

Exhibitions & Collections

Charles Pebworth's work has been featured in approximately twenty solo exhibitions over the course of his career, at galleries and museums throughout the Southwest, including Judy Youens, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Moody Gallery, Houston, Texas; the Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas; Circle Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana; and the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas. His work also been included in numerous group shows.  He is currently represented by Harris Gallery in Houston, Texas.

Pebworth's work has been added to permanent collections of museums across the country including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas; Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas; Oklahoma State Art Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and corporations and institutions such as The University of Houston, Houston, Texas; Belo Broadcasting Corporation, Dallas, Texas; Jennie Sealy Hospital, Galveston, Texas; Armco Steel Corporation, Middleton, Ohio; and the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Houston, Texas.  International collections featuring his work include Finsider Steel Company in Italy and Andre Courreges of France.