Artisan Pages:
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Artist Statement
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Since childhood, trees have been an intimate part of my life and dreams, making my life rich in beauty and surrounding me with a living, responsive material for creative work. It may have started while I was swinging from the branches of a giant sugar maple as a boy, but my love affair has been going on for as long as I can remember. My artistic senses were first stimulated by the uninhibited beauty and form of trees. I do not remember discovering wood as a material to do things with, it just seems to have always been there. I began woodworking back then, making my own toys out of branches of trees and scraps of lumber. After a liberal arts education, I turned to wood to provide me with a satisfaction of soul and a way of life. I set up my first wood shop in 1978, where I began teaching myself the personality of wood and the skills for shaping it into functional and artistic forms. I created cabinets, furniture, millwork, turnings, patterns and boats, expressing myself in my work with forms and styles that over time became more and more a reflection of my own sense of beauty. With my material as a constant companion and inspiration, I continually discover ways to express ideas that combine the natural patterns and colors found in wood with intentional patterns, colors and shapes of my own. Sometimes the wood tells me what it wants to be while at other times I tell the wood what I see and what I want it to be. In either case, only a cooperative effort produces a successful piece. Since my work is 3-dimensional, it is also all sculpture. I use the grain and wood structure found in the living tree in combination with intentional form to evoke a sensuous response, and to summon thoughts about archetypes and origins. My work reflects a continued effort to produce the perfect curved form, an intuitive form that evokes archetype and essence. Whether making sculpture, turnings or furniture, I strive for both visual and structural simplicity, and I desire for the viewer to have a visceral and emotional response to medium, form and content.
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