Barbara Sorenson Sculpture at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art

Barbara Sorenson has a topographical view of the world she shares through her sculptures.

"I instinctively respond to the form, surface and texture of the earth, echoing them in my work," Sorenson said. "I look at the landscape, interpret it, processing it within and give it back transformed."

Michelle Weyant, Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art spokeswoman, said the museum will provide a glimpse of Sorenson's large-scale clay creations, which reference geological forms in nature during a one-woman exhibition that will be on display from March 27 until May 22.

"Made in clay and bronze, my sculptures are about the figure, the landscape and how these relate to each other in the environment," the artist explains on her website, www.barbarasorenson.com . "My work ranges from geologic scale totems to small decorative ceramic chests that speak of energy, transformation and the volcanic movement of the earth."

"I build in layers, stacking and joining the clay... to create layers of antiquity, layers of time, and layers of myself. I let the sculpture lead me where it should go," she said, explaining the intricate process she developed.

The exhibition at the Leepa-Rattner Museum, on St. Petersburg College Tarpon Springs Campus, is a reflection the last 20 years of Sorenson's creative processes, with a concentration on the resin and metal works.

It includes Sorensen's collaboration with composer Stella Sung and videographer David Hiser in which they create a site-specific sound, video, sculptural experience that relates to the sculptor's work, Weyant said.

The exhibition will play a big part in the museum's celebration of Earth Day, Friday, April 22, Weyant said. Sorenson's "Topographies" exhibition is a collection circulated by the Museum of Florida Art in Deland. Sorenson is the first winner of the Museum of Florida Art's Florida Artist of Enduring Excellence Award.

At 7 p.m., March 31, Sorenson, who lives and works in Winter Park and Snowmass Village, Colo., will give an informal gallery talk on the meaning, forms and processes she used in creating her various sculptured pieces.

General admission to the talk will be $5 with museum members paying $3.