Alan Papscun

The human form has directed Alan for many decades, from his initial focus as a shoe designer for a Massachusetts footwear manufacturer, he was awarded the American Designer Award by the Leather Industries of America in 1978. As a student of mostly classical figure sculpture at Massachusetts College of Art (BFA) he was honored with the 1989 Pace Gallery Award. Alan then moved to more abstracted forms, graduating with an MFA from Alfred University. Since its inception in 2019 the Lead Shoe series has been included in many juried exhibitions in the Northeast. As the result of a pronounced congenital deformity of his left foot and leg, Alan views the human form from an outlying place. Every piece of sculpture is some form of self-portrait. He sculpts body ego, as it was formed, molded, perceived, internalized … and as it evolved. He sculpts spirit, emotional states, sensuality, primal forces. His work references wholeness, vulnerability, deformation, fragmentation, so as to reflect what it is to be imperfectly human, as we all ultimately exist. Alan lives and works in Stockbridge and the beautiful Berkshires of western Massachusetts, surrounded by his sculpted gardens and woods.