Juror’s Award – Through the Woods: Around the Block

This basket bowl was created for the Through the Woods: Around the Block exhibition at the The Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City Indiana, February 18th through April 10.

The Through the Woods, Around the Block show had the following requirement:

Starting with 2 identically sized indigenous, non-endangered solid wood blocks measuring  6x6x3, artists were asked to create an original piece from one block while leaving the other untouched.Juried by renowned woodturners Cindy Drozda and David Nittmann, the resulting exhibition of wood and object will provide a thought-provoking visual “before and after.”

When I first heard of this exhibit I knew that the basket look veneer work that I’ve been doing was perfect, fortunately I had two blocks of spalted maple left – one to transform and one to leave as is.

This construction uses seven parallels alternating (3,4) between layers of veneer. The parallel arrangement causes the visual energy to change from the tightly woven end view to a calmer side view. This is analogous to the experience of lathe work where cutting changes every quarter turn – side to end, easy to hard.

Baschoue sans nom

Baschoue sans nom (Basket without name)

One the my first “basket” works. Since spring of 2009, I have been experimenting with “supported turnings” – various ways of turning delicate structures by using a temporary medium for support. I call this particular process – where I assemble stacks of thin veneer and then turn them – “basket work”. Ribs or spacers are placed between the layers of veneer in an alternating pattern causing the layers to undulate, creating the appearance of being woven.  Different arrangements of  ribs between the layers creates interesting variations in the appearances of the resulting piece.

The construction of this piece started with a 3 1/4” thick spalted maple blank. I then cut 27 slices of veneer being careful to maintain order and orientation. From the same blank ribs or spacers are milled creating 1/8” x 1/16” strips. The veneer layers are stacked with the ribs arranged radially 3 out of 6 per layer, alternating on each layer. The end result is the woven layer look. Maintaining the sequence and alignment makes appear that perhaps it is still a solid piece of wood.

This piece has been accepted for the AAW Maple Medley – An Acer Showcase exhibition which will premiere in Hartford CT at the 2010 AAW Symposium.

Commissioned pine burl bowl for Judith Rutty-Godfrey.

This beautiful burl bowl is an unusual piece. This burl was part of a collection of odd chunks of wood that had been gathered over the years by Judith’s father. When I received it it was dusty, none of the burl figure was visible and the back was (mostly) covered with bark.

I had never heard of turning pine burls, nor had any of my wood-turning peers–common wisdom is pine burls are not worth the trouble. I was concerned that, being pine, it would be quite pitch-y and hence unworkable. I told Judith that I was not optimistic about creating a worthy piece.

When I later cut away the patina of age and saw the actual figure I was astounded. The light color and sandy swirls are amazing. I meticulously picked away the bark from the back side, trued up the face and turned a shallow offset bowl with a slightly raised lip. I think the fact this burl had been stored for years, aged if you will, contributed to the success of this piece.

If you have a chunk of a large door yard  tree or a burl (pine or not!) that you would like turned into a family heirloom, feel free to contact me as I would be happy to assist you.