In 1991, having been a self-taught woodcarver for quite some time, I went to the Worcester Center for Crafts looking for a carving class in the hope of improving my skills. Instruction in carving classes was not available, but evening classes in woodturning were, so more or less by default I signed up for these. By the end of the first class I was already hooked on woodturning. I have to credit, or blame, our instructor, Andy Motter, an accomplished technical woodturner and excellent teacher, with instilling in me an intense predilection for woodturning. He would show us the basic techniques but then would step back and give us space to practice them, often letting us make our own mistakes and thereby learn what to do and what not to do. By the end of the second 10 week session I was ready to work on my own. I have continued the learning process by attending many workshops and presentations by local, as well as national and international, woodturners, carvers, and artists in wood.
At the outset woodturning was supposed to be a hobby, but production soon outpaced the number of friends and relatives willing to accept the gift of yet another bowl from a semi-skilled, beginning woodturner. So I began to sign up for craft shows hoping that some people might actually buy my work. And surprisingly some did! Over the past 24 years I have participated in a considerable number of shows in southern New England and New York and sold in galleries in New England and Chicago. My work has been shown in exhibitions in Boston, Lexington, Providence, Chicago, Minneapolis as well as local venues, and I have demonstrated woodturning for local and regional club meetings and symposia.
An education in classics and 30 plus years as Curator of Mechanical Arts at Old Sturbridge Village, from which I retired in 2004, have imposed a particular stamp on my sense of design. Almost instinctively, I gravitate to classical and traditional forms in my woodturning and feel very strongly that good form and proportion are vital to the success of a piece regardless of the dramatic nature of the wood itself or any creative details that may be added to the design. I am also strongly influenced by the work and teaching of a master wood engraver where I taught many years ago, as well as the very critical eye of my wife.
I work primarily with native, and mostly local, woods, often “found” wood that happens to be lying on the roadside waiting for someone like me to come and rescue it. I use a lot of burls, frequently cherry burls both because of their greater availability in New England and their striking figure and color. Some burls find their way to me from acquaintances; others I have purchased from men who work in the woods.
As a craft the medium of woodturning offers intriguing opportunities to capitalize on the intrinsic beauty and grace of wood. Whether the finished form is to be classical or interpretive, the wood blank can be manipulated to show grain pattern, color, and even defects to their best advantage in creating one-of-a-kind pieces. Working with native hardwoods from the woodpile and roadside trimmings, I often allow the work to evolve on the lathe so that the character of the wood helps to determine the final outcome. Yet, I frequently strengthen the visual appeal and tactile quality of a piece by texturing the surface, adding a carved frieze or finial, or by using a contrasting or complementary piece of wood for the collar or foot.
In an effort to test and expand my creative skills I like to undertake pieces in which an original concept is the driving force—where I can use the wood as a canvas to create a preconceived design. The discipline of working to a specified shape and proportion is indeed a challenge for my unstructured mind. The further challenges of determining how to achieve the desired result through decorative techniques that I have learned over the years, such as texturing, carving, pyrography, joinery, and painting, are essential to my development as an artist-craftsman.
Pieces selected for this exhibit are representative of my body of work, although I like to think that my work is continually evolving. They include functional bowls with and without embellishment, bowls and hollow vessels that capitalize on the inherent beauty of the wood, as well as more sculptural pieces in which the design is the overriding element and the wood is one of several contributing factors to the final product.
