Gavin T. Gardner began his Classical training in sculpture at an early age. At 29 he has been sculpting nearly half his life and has been apprentice to some of the greatest sculptors of the past century. His skills range from portrait to figure sculpture, relief, architectural design, wood carving, liturgical sculpture, gilding, and work in precious metals. He has also completed two major commissions for a church that was slated to be made a cathedral. The first of these commissions earned him a national award.
At the age of 16, Gardner began his study of figurative sculpture under the tutelage of Virginia master sculptor and stone carver, Malcolm Harlow. Harlow was employed by the Washington National Cathedral for 10 years. He carved many of the gargoyles which adorn the building. Harlow instructed Gardner in the areas of human anatomy, clay modeling, mold making, plaster casting and stone carving. Gardner studied with him for nearly three years (until graduating from high school). In 1995 he attended Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. There he took courses in design concepts, painting and drawing, though his concentration was figurative sculpture and stone carving.
In 1996, he decided to take a sabbatical. He spent the year working for another Virginia sculptor, Frederick E. Hart. Hart is the sculptor of the Three Soldiers at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. With Hart's recommendation, he attended the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, Connecticut. He received his BFA in sculpture in 2000.
In 2002 he and another sculptor completed the fourteen stations of the cross in high relief for Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Potomac, MD. Each sculpted seven of the stations independently. Both sculptors worked diligently to blend artistic style so each set of seven reliefs would match. These stations are unique in their size (2' x 4'). Most are much smaller.
For his work on the stations, Gardner received the National Sculpture Society's Dexter Jones award, which is "given to a young sculptor for the best work of sculpture in bas relief." Gardner was also a selected to be in the 2006 National Sculpture Society's Figure Modeling Competition. In 2002 Our Lady of Mercy gave him a second commission to design and create their tabernacle in bronze. The tabernacle project was unique in that few artists, if any, have made intricate architectural tabernacles since the Renaissance. Bernini, for instance, produced a tabernacle which was a fully articulated, architectural model of a temple. Gardner' tabernacle took 2 1/2 years to complete. It is a 3 1/2 foot model, with full architectural detail, of a Renaissance style cathedral. Four bronze cherubim surround it with outstretched wings. It is nearly 400 pounds of silicone bronze, and due to the intricacy of the design, the bronze was cast in 40 separate pieces and welded together.
