New Influence/Direction

After having seen Frank Stella's Irregular Polygons at Dartmouth's Hood Museum and listening to him talk a few days later, I decided my work would be more interesting if I escaped the tyranny of rectangularity.

Five Randomly Tapered Planks
(Update 2/4/11: I changed the name of this piece to
A Tear of Joy and Profound Admiration)
shellac on curly maple, curly yellow birch,
curly/bird's-eye yellow birch
approx. 47" x 42" x 1"

Having milled these five planks many months earlier, I was having trouble deciding on how to arrange them, but as soon as my mind opened to the idea of adding random angles to the work, it fell together much better. It seems like such a simple idea but it opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. It will be interesting to see where it leads.

Alternate Orientation
approx. 58" x 34" x 1"

In addition to the unique shape of this piece, the middle plank is particularly interesting in that it is made with bird's-eye yellow birch. I had no idea that such a thing existed (and didn't know I had bought it until after I put it through the jointer) but now that I know I'll take extra care to look for it at the lumber mill.

yellow birch bird's-eye closeup