2008 Craft Show Artists

The boxes I create are my own design and are both functional and sculptural. The box itself is turned from exotic woods and consist of an inner liner. These are fitted together with very tight tolerances and both may or may not be ornamented with carving, color or inlays. The lids are also exotic woods and are fitted to allow the box to be functional. There is sculptural handcarving and chatterwork on the lids.

Sculptural woodturnings using a variety of woods. Pieces are first turned on the lathe and then carved using both hand and power carvers.

My work consists of hand carved wood bowls, vessels, and wall sculpture with an oil finish.

Each of these sculptures is an intense exploraton of movement and space. A bulb jutting out or a sudden sharp angle disrupting otherwise fluid forms imposes a sense of space in time. I draw on the biomechanics of nature to create shapes that suggest motion. As a result, these forms tend to have a functional even corporeal feel. Developed an unconventional technique using a chain saw and other specialized tools that allows me to test the limits of the medium to create sculptures that, though static, retain a sense of fluid movement. When I approach the wood, I generally have a concept in mind the material has its own particular limitations, but my intention is to explore my original idea as fully as possible. The tools I use give me the freedom to impose a structure on the piece. The freedom manifest in the feeling that rather than carving out space, I'm actually displacing the weight of the form, that wood is malleable that it can be made to rise and fall, can be pushed or pulled.

Contemporary turned vessels. Most of my vessels incorporate some form of surface manipulation such as carving or fluting. The tack vessels are wood vessels with copper tacks covering the outer surface for the ultimate in tactile sensation. While shape and form are foremost in the design process, I look for woods with superior color and grain patterns. I prefer to work alone, enjoying the solitude and security of my studio.

I am a woodturner specializing in functional kitchen items. I make solid wood bowls, scoops, rolling pins, wine stoppers and other round objects. My work is sanded to a smooth, scratch free surface, and finished with walnut oil. The majority of my wood comes from trees downed in windstorms or those cut during preventative maintenance. This enables me to work with a far greater variety of woods, larger dimensions, and gives complete control over the drying process. I hold a BFA in Sculpture from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.

Dedicated to the creation of well crafted timeless studio furniture and accessories, we incorporate traditional joinery and construction to build each piece, by hand, in our studio. Know for our heirloom pieces, we work with select domestic and exotic hardwoods and veneers to produce new and innovative work. Our designs represent a marriage of fresh design and traditional construction. In tables, sideboards, seating and home accessories, we create classics and are constantly producing new and innovative work.

I make boxes entirely of wood. This includes the hinges, fasteners, latches and drawer slides. Many of my boxes consist of multiple turned components that are joined and sculpted. The plywoods used are made in my shop from layers of veneer.

We turn wooden bowls in classic, reserved shapes to allow the natural beauty of the wood to be the major design element. We use only rescued wood from trees taken down for other reasons. All the pieces are cut from one block of wood: we do not laminate. Our focus is to make beautiful pieces that are functional enough for daily use.

These pieces are hand-carved from Minnesota hardwoods. I gather my materials locally as logs from fallen trees. The tools I employ follow a progression of refinement that is reflective of the work in progress, beginning with logging equipment and culminating with my bare hands, oil and wax. The bulk of my carving is executed with rotary tools. These allow me to maintain a sweeping motion that yields the very fluid forms that I seek. I rarely approach a log with a specific finished form in mind. Each one of them holds several forms that are only revealed by getting inside of it. Once there I travel with the material on a journey the goal being to not totally tame or break it, but to find a balance with the material. This is a point where the intrinsic beauty of the material and the mastery of my craft become blurred, as if they are one. I strive for purity in my designs where less can be more, and have achieved the discipline required to resist overworking the material.

A selection of exotic woods are combined into a laminated plank which is then cut into angled concentric rings which are stack laminated into a rough bowl form, which is given its final shaping, smoothing and finishing on the lathe. The pattern in the original laminated plank becomes a surface design on the bowl in ways I find endlessly fascinating. In some cases multiple bowl forms are cut into portions to create interactive sculptures which present the surface designs on a new level.

I make limited edition and one-of-a-kind architecturally-inspired containers and wall cabinets with concealed compartments and unusual ways of opening. I use combinations of exotic hardwoods in a veneered and mitered construction. The boxes are elegant and the ways they open surprising

For 30 years I have explored wooden spoon forms as a context for sculpture. Using woods of exceptional character I shape each spoon to be a unique statement of color and form. The roughing out process uses power equipment and is followed by hours of refinement with knives, files, and scrapers. My spoons are sculptures and my sculptures are spoons: not spoons to stir the soup but spoons to stir the soul. Public collections such as the Renwick Gallery, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Fuller Craft Museum, the Museum of Art and Design, the Mint Museum, the Mobile Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Museum of Art, the Arkansas Art Center and the Yale Art Gallery have added my work to their permanent collections.

All my pieces are carvings created using both power and hand tools. I utilize solid pieces of wood in their natural color in the designs.

I work with wood and metal, using different joinery techniques to achieve a decorative and functional box. My mission is to create a piece that holds in it a history of applied art and regional movements (art deco, art nouveau, Asian, and architectural design), and yet is uniquely my own. My work encompasses thirty two years of experience and inspiration.