Dream Big Sculpture – Lorri Acott

My sculptures begin with a feeling I don’t always have words for. I sit with it, and when I’m ready, I start shaping it—often into a figure. The long legs that show up again and again in my work have become a quiet kind of language for me. They speak to our ability to rise above life’s challenges—to stretch, to reach, to keep going even when it’s hard.

There’s always symbolism woven into the work. Butterflies often appear as messengers of transformation. Birds and open hands show up as hope and peace. I’ve used real handprints from communities on sculpture bases to represent connection and shared experience. Sometimes the most powerful thing is simply a small gesture in the body of a figure—something that says “I see you,” or “I’m still here,” or “I’m healing too.”

To make my best work, I have to let myself feel deeply. Then I have to be brave enough to turn that into something real—and braver still to share it. Each step is a kind of healing for me. And the most meaningful moments come when someone tells me that a piece helped them feel understood or less alone. That’s when I know I’ve done something worthwhile.

I live and work in the mountains of Colorado, which gives me space to breathe and create. With my husband Adam, I co-founded Dream Big Sculpture, and we work out of our studio here in Loveland. We make large-scale public art together and install it in communities across the country. I love that these works live outside, where anyone can stumble across them—sometimes on the hardest days—and feel a moment of connection, or hope.

At the heart of it, I make art to heal, to connect, and to remind people (including myself) that we’re not alone.