Downtown Oxford Art Walk
The six-piece sculpture installation, done by North Carolina sculpture artist Adam Walls, in downtown Oxford that is turning heads.
Gemini 
Nave 
Maman
Core 
Wishes 
Free
Gemini
Location: John W. Watson, Jr. Law Office Parking Lot
Walls wanted to build two matching forms to be displayed side-by-side. He calls them Gemini, as he sees them as twin-like sculptures that can create different visual effects when displayed at different angles. It’s obvious to him now that he must have had his sons in mind as he was fabricating these sculptural forms. This is enamel paint on a mild steel sculpture.
Core
Location: Beside PNC Bank
For Walls, this sculpture is symbolic of life springing anew for the next generation. He enjoys the fact that each of the rods are connected to one another. For him, this references the notion that all life is interconnected and interdependent. This is a lacquer-based paint on a mild steel sculpture.
Maman
Location: Old Warehouse Square
This sculpture serves as a loose homage to Louise Bourgeois. She has always been one of Walls’ favorite artists and he shares many of her interests and loves. One of the loves they share is a love for their mothers, as the title of this sculpture is a French interpretation for Mama. This is a stainless-steel sculpture.
Nave
Location: Granville County Courthouse Square
For Walls, this sculpture is symbolic of life ‘Nave’ is the name often given to the nooks in wall spaces that accommodate figurative sculptures. This sculpture offers a place for the viewer to become part of the work in any of the four seats provided in the sculpture. The high peaked arch shapes are referential of the shapes of the naves and stained glass windows that are commonly part of the structures a nave might appear in, common in gothic style architecture. This is oil paint on a mild steel sculpture.
Wishes
Location: Beside the National Guard Armory
Walls’ young sons enjoy blowing the seed pods from dandelions and watching them fly away. They make a wish for each time they do this and refer to the event as Wishes. Walls says, “I certainly had dandelions in mind as I designed this sculptural form.” This is enamel on a mild steel sculpture.
Free
Location: In front of Richard H. Thornton Library
This sculpture can be highly symbolic of a need for release from certain constructs that Walls believes we all build or have imposed upon ourselves. He believes we all have a need for this release at different points in our lives. The three birds depicted in this sculpture also have their own symbolism, though he prefers to let the viewer determine what that symbolism might be for themselves as it might be something different for each of us. This is enamel paint on a mild steel sculpture.
About the Artist: Adam Walls
Adam Walls was born in Gaffney, SC where he received his BFA in Art education in 1996 from Limestone College. He taught in public schools by day and through art centers by night until he completed his MFA in Sculpture from Winthrop University in 2006. Since then, he has become a tenured professor of art at UNC-Pembroke. His work has been exhibited approximately 200 in nationally juried exhibitions and sculpture parks across America.