Adam Mulder

Adam grew up in rural Oklahoma. He is the son of an entomologist who fostered a love of insects and nature in general. Much of his childhood was spent outside bug hunting, fishing, camping. He has always been fascinated by the intricacies of nature and the interactions between it and humans.

Before pursuing a career in art Adam worked in construction and property management. During his years doing this he learned many useful skills that translated easily to his sculptural work.

Adam Mulder earned his BFA from Oklahoma State University in 2008 and his MFA from Southern Illinois University in 2013. Adam was a visiting assistant professor at Oklahoma State University from 2013-2016 and is currently an Associate Professor at University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, TX. In addition to teaching and creating sculpture Adam has a broad interest in creating furniture and other functional objects. He is a sculptor, furniture maker, printmaker, and ceramicist who has exhibited nationally. Adams work is in several private and public collections.

• Bachelor of Fine Art from Oklahoma State University in 2008
• Master of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University in 2013

Adam's undergraduate career began as a landscape architecture major and through several major changes and time off from school eventually decided to be a sculpture major. Sculpture was the only thing that could hold his interest and offered the opportunity to do something different every day. The endless possibilities of what a career as a sculptor offered could not be denied. During his academic career Adam has gained the skills necessary to do welding, metal casting and fabrication, wood working, mold making ,cold casting, ceramics, printmaking, CAD design, furniture design and construction. He has gained a broad knowledge base in the use of foundry, metal and wood working tools and equipment. In addition to his knowledge of traditional processes, Adam has participated in and organized art installations, performances (video/live), organizations, and community programs.

• 2020-present: Associate Professor, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio. Department of Art.
• 2016-2020: Assistant Professor, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio. Department of Art.
• 2013-2016: Visiting Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. Department of Art, Art History, and Graphic Design.

2020

• Great Plains Juried Exhibition, Centre Gallery @ Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK.
• Artovation 2020: A Virtual Exhibition, Texas Association of Schools of Art.
• ArtPrize, Grand Rapids, MI. (cancelled)

2019

• 89th Annual Juried Exhibition, San Antonio Art League and Museum, San Antonio, TX.

2018

• Artprize, Grand Rapids, MI.
• 88th Annual Juried Exhibition, San Antonio Art League and Museum, San Antonio, TX.
• Art of the Sacred Texas Springs, Headwaters at the Incarnate Word, Kelso Art Gallery. San Antonio, TX.
• University of the Incarnate Word Faculty Exhibition, San Antonio TX.

2017

• Inspire Annual Juried Art Show, Inspire Community Arts Center, San Antonio, TX.
• Artprize, Grand Rapids, MI.
• Nomadic Entanglement, San Antonio Art League and Museum, San Antonio, TX .

• College Arts Association CAA : 2013-present
• Texas Association of Schools of Art : 2016-present
• San Antonio Art League and Museum : 2016-present

Adam is always creating. Beyond being a sculpture professor he has a broad interest in furniture making, gardening, and anything involving skilled use of his knowledge of making and nature. He enjoys nothing more than spending time doing hands on projects with his children creating useful and beautiful things.

2020: Honorable Mention, Great Plains Juried Exhibition, Centre Gallery @ Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK

• 2016: CHASS Curriculum Committee
• 2017-present: Alternative Spring Break Committee

I use natural forms as a metaphor for human experience. Nature forms and transforms through external and internal stimuli much like the way human personality traits and emotional identity form through our daily encounters with hardship and blessing. Similar to the way nature needs external stimuli and internal reactions to transform into its intended final form, humans also need this action to reaction process to form beliefs, values, character, and identity.

Many of the seemingly insignificant occurrences in our lives can have significantly powerful effects on the formative processes that lead to the eventual outcome of our psyche. We often do not realize or understand the effects these stimuli have had upon our psyche until they have already taken hold. Life cycles in nature are similar to human psychological and physiological development. Think of a seed as a specific stimuli and the interpretation and evaluation of how we let that stimuli change us. Bundle that seed together with thousands of others and you will have a forest that makes up the whole of our experience which informs who we are.

My work is intended to make the viewer question their own experience. By using natural forms that seem familiar to most, but strangely different, I hope the viewer will question what their own reality is and whether or not their experience is true. Humans have a simultaneously wonderful and terrible ability to lie to themselves. We often will remember things differently than they actually happened. That being said, most of my work addresses a personal experience and the struggle I have with what actually occurred. Each work is an expression of emotion, memory, or experience that I have had in my own life.

• Three Dimensional Design
• Sculpture 1
• Sculpture 2
• Advanced Sculpture
• Special Topics: Installation Art
• Ceramics 1
• Drawing 1
• Advanced Drawing
• Senior Studio