Over the past 35 years, the International Sculpture Center has honored 50 working sculpture artists with the Lifetime Achievement Award. This year, joining past female recipients such as Louise Bourgeois and Kiki Smith is Carole Feuerman. With global public installations of her hyperrealistic bodily sculptures—including New York’s own Park Avenue and Manhattan Seaports—Feuerman’s work has become recognizable to many, both within and without the so-called “art world."

With a career spanning over 50 years, Feuerman came to the practice of sculpture in 1970s New York City surrounded by many of the artists who would go on to define the visual style of that generation. Now decades later and in the immediate wake of receiving the ISC Lifetime Achievement award, IMPULSE spoke with Feuerman about how her style, voice, and muses have developed throughout a long and prolific career.

Ruby Alexander: What does the concept of the body as a site or archive mean to you?

Carole Feuerman: I believe the body remembers everything. It records our experiences, our emotions, our losses, our triumphs, and our resilience. Throughout my career, whether I was creating fragmented figures in the 1970s, swimmers emerging from water, or the tattooed figures of Mythologies, I have viewed the body as much more than anatomy. It is a repository of memory.

Perhaps that is why the human figure has remained at the center of my work for so many years. Every body carries a history. Every gesture contains a story. Sculpture allows me to reveal some of what is hidden beneath the surface.

RA: How do you feel about the opening of From Line to Life this month? Is it refreshing to shift away from your sculptural work for a moment?

CF: The exhibition has been deeply emotional for me. These drawings were created before most people knew me as a sculptor. Looking at them now, I can see the foundation of everything that followed.

What makes this moment particularly meaningful is that it comes at a time of reflection. This year I was honored to receive the International Sculpture Center Lifetime Achievement Award, while also presenting major public installations on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and revisiting some of my earliest work in both From Line to Life and I AM MINE.

Rather than feeling like a departure from sculpture, the exhibition feels like coming full circle. It reminds me that drawing was where everything began. Sculpture grew from those lines.

RA: What traces of your early work do you see in your most recent series, Mythologies? Where did the inspiration for the inclusion of bodies on bodies (via tattoos) come from?

CF: When I look at my Mythologies series, I see a direct connection to work I was making more than fifty years ago. This year has been especially meaningful because I am showing my early drawings in From Line to Life at QCC Art Gallery and my early fragment sculptures in I AM MINE at Ethan Cohen Gallery. Seeing those works again has reminded me that the questions I am asking today are the same questions I was asking as a young artist.

I’ve always been interested in the body as a vehicle for storytelling. The tattoos in Mythologies allow me to place those stories directly onto the figure. They transform the body into a living narrative, carrying myths, memories, and symbols across its surface.

The series feels like a culmination of many decades of exploration. It brings together drawing, sculpture, mythology, and the human experience into a single form.

RA: If you were to pick the next sculptor to receive the ISC Lifetime Achievement Award, who would you pick? Or alternatively, who should we be watching right now?

CF: Receiving the ISC Lifetime Achievement Award was one of the great honors of my career because it represents recognition from fellow sculptors and from a field that I care deeply about.

There are many artists who deserve that recognition. What I admire most are sculptors who remain fearless, who continue evolving and challenging themselves throughout their lives.

The artists we should be watching are often those who are taking risks and pursuing their vision with conviction, regardless of trends. Sculpture requires patience, persistence, and belief. Those qualities matter as much as talent. I would pick Richard Serra, Ai Weiwei, Giovanni Strazza, and Fabio Viali.

RA: Women and water are major themes in many of your works. Could you explain what draws you to each subject?

CF: Water has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. It is both powerful and fragile, constantly changing yet eternal. It represents renewal, transformation, and the continuity of life.

The female figure became central to my work because I wanted to create representations of women that embodied strength, individuality, and presence. Early in my career, women artists often faced barriers, and women were frequently portrayed through someone else’s perspective.

Water and women became intertwined in my work because both speak to resilience and transformation. Whether in a museum, on Park Avenue, or now on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, these themes continue to resonate with audiences because they are fundamentally human.

RA: Have you ever made a sculptural self-portrait? Do certain bodies of work feel more personal to you than others?

CF: Yes, I have created self-portraits, but I think every sculpture is ultimately a self-portrait.

The early fragments shown in I AM MINE are especially personal because they emerged during a period when I was discovering both my artistic voice and my sense of self. Looking at them now, I can still recognize the questions and emotions that shaped them.

The swimmer sculptures are personal in a different way. They reflect my fascination with balance, transformation, and perseverance. The Mythologies series explores ideas about memory, legacy, and the stories we carry throughout our lives.

Although the figures may represent others, every work contains part of me.

RA: Have you ever had a favorite sculpture? If so, why?

CF: That is always the hardest question.

Certain works hold special meaning because they mark important moments in my life. Justice is certainly one of them. It embodies balance, humanity, and hope—values that have become increasingly important to me over time.

But if I’m honest, my favorite sculpture is usually the one I’m working on next.

After receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award, people sometimes ask if I feel I have reached a destination. I don’t. I still wake up excited by new ideas and new possibilities. The next sculpture always represents another opportunity to learn, grow, and discover something unexpected.

Carole Feuerman: From Line to Life is on view at QCC University Art Gallery from May 28 to September 31, 2026. I AM MINE, WITHOUT PERMISSION will be on view at Ethan Cohen Gallery from June 11 to July 25, 2026.