Artist Bio

Brett Moten was born in Bronxville, New York in 1965 and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico at the age of seven. There he was exposed to the artistic community in the "Land of Enchantment", spending many hours watching the hot fire of the glassblowers on Canyon Road. In high school he tried his hand at ceramics and showed some artistic promise.

In 1984 he moved to Reno. There he began a career as a farrier and was introduced to the art of blacksmithing. This seemed to be where his interests lay. He attended blacksmithing clinics, and learned from some of the best in the world. The fascination with metal forming was in full bloom and the artistic talent began to focus.

In 1997, he began experimenting in the artistic applications of metals. This took shape in the form of small projects such as candlesticks, candelabras, and metal flowers. Later that year his work attracted some attention and he began producing private commissions. These took the form of furniture, gates, railings and abstract art.

More recently, Brett's artistic interests and inspirations have come from nature. He's spent a great deal of time in the backcountry and mountains of the High Sierra and has been exposed to the creative majesty of the elements. His focus in 2003 has been to reproduce some of the visions he's seen. Most recently he has been recreating full-scale pine trees from found and scrap metals. He's also used the theme of tree branches in door hardware, i.e. handles and pulls. Brett is constantly experimenting with different materials, textures and patinas; various ways of combining them, and shapes and forms that can be created from them. He's open to experimenting for a wide variety of projects.