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Steve Swain

Steve Swain's steel sculptures are available in the gallery and by commission.

To request a custom piece or custom installation, please fill out this short form.

Steel sculptor Steve Swain received his Bachelors of Fine Arts from UMass Amherst in 1986. As an accomplished artist, architectural designer, craftsman and boat captain, he is responsible for creating several notable local restaurants and buildings. His last project before switching to art full-time was designing and overseeing construction of the restaurant Pearl in Wellfleet and the restoration of Duffy Gardinier's Tug Boat Shack, saving the last of old clam shacks from the wrecking ball and creating The Frying Pan Gallery on the Wellfleet Harbor Pier. In the fall of 2019, a second Frying Pan gallery was opened in Orleans.

Growing up on a strict diet of surf clams and hand-lined cod and flounder, his exposure to the life aquatic began early. Still the avid waterman, Steve seeks inspiration in nature and credits the great outdoors for his creativity and compositions. 

 

In the spring of 2018, Steve returned from an extended research trip aboard his 41' ketch "Flying Fish". Voyaging down the coast of the US and throughout the Bahamas, Steve - working next to his wife Sarah and their three children: Lucy, Jessie, and Stan - conducted ocean micro-plastics research in cooperation with the 5 Gyres research group, helping to create a worldwide survey of ocean plastics. The realities of this work deeply affected the entire family who has now become dedicated to helping bring awareness to the ocean's plight.

In his secluded studio, Steve designs and hand builds steely renditions of marine life. Steve and his family (and their dogs, chickens, and goats) live in Harwich within casting range of his grandfather Nuna’s favorite bass fishing hole.

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