Label
I was born and raised in Idaho where I received an architectural degree from the University of Idaho
before moving to live and work in Pasadena, Minneapolis, New York, and Berlin. I returned to the
Northwest in 1990, residing and working in Seattle for several decade, and I currently on Vashon
Island. I work largely with figurative pieces fabricated in archival cardboard and cast in bronze and
aluminum. Themes in my art involve historic subjects of the American West, the natural world and the
passage of time. As a young person I was exposed to wildlife by being outdoors, hiking and fishing, and
its presence has become more significant in my life and more integral to my work in the past decade.
This study was constructed of archival cardboard, once derived as the output of the pulp from the
lumber and timber industry and box manufacturing. Reworking of this common material represents
transformation. This study was fabricated from cardboard pieces, cut and pieced together with drywall
screws, glue and pencil markings; the bird’s appearance based on careful study in nature and from
photographs. The subject, a Bald Eagle, is the largest true raptor in North America, and the national
bird of the United States of America. Sacred and iconic, it is also a spiritual messenger to Native
Americans. The eagle has made a recovery from being endangered not long ago to being ever present,
and today its natural range covers most of the continent. When the juvenile birds gain maturity, they
also gain white markings. The bald eagle soars on thermal convection currents, roosting on tall trees
throughout the coastal parts of Puget Sound.Label
Exhibition description; "Traver Gallery is excited to welcome Scott Fife back to the gallery for his second exhibition, Cardboard Kingdom. For his new show, Fife presents a series of large-scale and improbably intimate portraits of large, mythic beasts; animals whose character and history animate our folktales and fill our collective imagination. Built by hand using cardboard and glue in his Vashon Island studio, Fife’s remarkably detailed and tactile sculptures invite us to contemplate the potent relationship between human and animal realms. He says of this new body of work, “Physically beautiful; we endear these animals with many meanings. But they are predators and prey in a brutal world. These are portraits of individuals as they are in nature, balancing survival.