Dialogue
Alex Tedlie-Stursberg: Coastal Formal
From the shorelines of the Pacific Northwest to the edges of the city, Alex Tedlie-Stursberg brings a distinct material sensitivity to his sculptural practice. Working with found objects shaped by weather, time, and circumstance, he treats each fragment as both artifact and collaborator.
His approach is anchored in what he calls an “unsanctioned collaboration” with nature — a process where ocean-worn styrofoam, discarded metals, and forgotten debris are reinterpreted with intention. These objects arrive already transformed by tides, erosion, and chance. Alex’s role is to pause that transformation, “to freeze that moment in time,” elevating overlooked materials into works that are at once familiar, uncanny, and deeply expressive of the coast that shapes them.
This sensitivity extends to his rebar sculpture, ‘Orbit’ — a work shaped by the lifecycle of urban structures. Drawn to transitional sites, he sees abandoned rebar as material caught between decay and renewal.
By reclaiming these twisted forms, he gives the rusted steel “one last task,” reshaping it into pieces that honour their past while proposing new meaning. Coastal Formal, presented at HAVEN Vancouver in collaboration with Monte Clark Gallery, brings these ideas into focus. Here, Alex reflects on material memory, environmental process, and the beauty found in objects both “kind of beautiful and horrible at the same time.” Together, the exhibition and this feature explore how transformation—natural, human, or accidental—can reveal new ways of seeing the world around us.
‘Coastal Formal’ with be on show at HAVEN Vancouver from December 5th - December 21st.
Opening reception will be held from 6pm - 9pm Thursday, December 4th at HAVEN Vancouver.
“What you want, when you’re making an artwork, is for people to stop and look - to spend time with it.”
"The ocean takes it and reforms it… It’s almost this unsanctioned collaboration.”
“I’m looking for a way to elevate that object — to really honour it, to give it this new life.”
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