Artist Statement:

My work is created in communion with the world around me, including the world of nature, human interactions, and the forms our minds impose on the world. I work mostly sculpture and photography. In sculpture where I use both traditional materials such as wood and stone and non-traditional materials as glass and feathers.  In photography I observe the world closely around me looking for the unobserved beauty in the everyday.  I am especially interested in the spiritual implications of materials and art, and the way we create the world every time we image it.  I hope my work gives people a timeless, universal feeling and shows the otherworldly in the everyday.

​

Artist Bio

Jonathan Ottke is an artist living next to a lake near Washington DC, where he walks and observes the world and people every day.  He lived in many places including by a chocolate factory in Waldenbuch, Germany, the Washington DC area, Nairobi, Kenya near the equator, and Vienna, Austria.  His art is deeply affected by his travels and by his training as a biologist.  He sees art as a spiritual practice that is a communication, a dance even, between the creator, the universe and the viewer that allow both to become better people. He studied art at the Academy of Art in Braunschweig and the University of Virginia. He continued his studies as a guest student in Vienna, Austria with the artist Arnulf Rainer.  He has displayed his art at many exhibitions in the Washington DC region.