Artist of the day: Artists of the Day, May 21, 2022:: Jeﬀ and Dale Ocasio, American sculptors (#1575)

Jeﬀ and Dale Ocasio are creators of ocasiocasa art. Sculpting with paper masking tape over wire and reclaimed objects is where their artwork begins. It's a bizarre medium that they have found to be extremely liberating, and enjoy it so much that they teach classes to help spread the joy of it. Drawing attention to the enchantment they imagine secretly residing in ordinary things, creatures, nature – shinning a light on hidden worlds, is where their art is the most comfortable and at home. Words used to describe their work have ranged from “happy” to “charmingly disturbing”, or even “Looks like Tim Burton studio”.

Dale and Jeff Ocasio got their start working from home as many artists do. They explained the inspiration behind the name of their gallery, Ocasiocasa. “We’ve always dabbled in making stuff, but once our kids came, they really inspired us to get creative with the things we had on hand, to recycle, upcycle, redesign and modify things. When they were little, we would make toys for them. Then as they got older we did hand-made paper and book binding.

The body of work displayed at Ocasiocasa has been created through years of marriage, raising children, and now owning a gallery. I speculated that sort of marital/working relationship would require an element of compromise. I asked Dale how they’ve worked this out, how they differ from one another, and if she’s seen a metamorphosis over the years as far as their style is concerned. “I’m very minimalistic and subdued. I like subtle color and design,’ she explains. “Jeff likes things bold and a bit wild. If we can’t come to an agreement on a project we set it aside and come back to it later. It has to be something we both like.

Jeff’s refined his sculpting during the last few years. He’s created his own style, primarily sculpting with masking tape on recycled items. They get them at thrift stores, garage sales, etc …

In other projects the duo used wire reclaimed from Hurricane Charley: “It knocked over all the power lines. When everything got reconnected and the yard cleared, we had all these lines still in our yard. We just wound it up and used it.”

The Ocasios choose a new theme each month for their display, intended to coincide with Art Walk. “We typically talk about it the weekend of Art Walk. That’s a Friday. So, Saturday and Sunday we try to finalize what the next month will be, we toss things around, but we like to change our mind.”

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