Aaron Sturtz left New York for the open spaces of the American West at age seventeen.

After a year of climbing and backcountry living, he enrolled in the California College of the Arts. At CCA, he committed himself to sculpture and graduated with High Distinction.

His first solo exhibition, The First Souvenir of the Sixth Extinction, was presented the following year at Freedom Box Gallery in Portland, Oregon.

After pursuing graduate study at Lewis & Clark College, he spent years teaching art in high-poverty schools and working as a school leader, while continuing to make art privately, deepening his climbing and canyoneering practice, and raising two children.

He is now a full-time artist whose sculpture is informed by the landforms of the American West.

Forthcoming projects include a residency at the Buffalo Creek Art Center and a solo exhibition at Plinth Gallery in Denver.