Born in Eureka, California, Carol Setterlund has lived in Northern California most of her life. The physical influences of the coast and the mountains, the variety and beauty of the landscape, the character of the people in the farm town where she grew up have been her background and continue to inform her art.
For many years she made abstract sculptural objects inspired by nature and the physical landscape. In the early 90s, she moved away from the abstract to expressive figurative work. Despite this major shift, consistent elements of her work are an awareness and focus on the strength and power of the three dimensional form and the use of and love of wood as a warm and responsive material. She uses and incorporates other materials, but wood remains her favorite raw material for its intrinsically expressive powers.
Her sculpture borders at times on folk or tribal art but more often on a universal connection to both her heritage and the modern contemporary world.
She currently lives north of San Francisco in Sonoma County.