Michael Binkley, a Squamish sculptor, strives to reconnect individuals to their primal instinct of touch. The sensory experience of touch is quickly de-programmed in most of us during childhood. ‘Don’t touch’ is a phrase often spoken to a child during formative years, and we learn that it is almost taboo to touch objects. This imposed societal constraint pushes our desire to touch to a deep place within us and sculpture is one means to resurface that instinct. Stone sculpture is the oldest art form known to Man and if Michael can entice a viewer to want to touch one of his sculptures, he feels he has succeeded in making a good art work.

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When carving sculpture, Michael Binkley, tries to pay as much attention to the finishing of the piece as to the design – different textures are integral to the piece itself, as it supports his desire to have people touch the work as part of their interaction with a particular piece.

In our contemporary world of ‘conceptual art’ as popular art form, Michael Binkley, believes there is a missing piece that dismisses line and form, positive and negative space and composition of a discrete sculpture, which he feels is truly valuable in aiding an individual’s interaction with art through touch.