Asheville Trip Part II - Grovewood Gallery

On my second stop during my recent Asheville trip, I went to the Grovewood Gallery where they were having A Wood Collector's Home show, featuring nineteen top wood artists from across North America, July 1 to October 2. Although there were a number of artists in this show whose work I saw at the Arboretum show, amazingly, there were a few phenomenal woodturners whose work were only in this show (maybe because they weren't AAW members). As a result I was a little overwhelmed and somewhat jaded by the quality of work by this point so, in looking back at the gallery's website, I can see that I skipped over and didn't photograph work that I would have otherwise covered.

Malcolm Tibbetts is one of the amazing artists I hadn't previously seen. He creates segmented woodturnings but, unlike anyone else's work I've seen, he must assemble, turn, cut, and reassemble multiple times to create these objects. It hurts my head trying to figure out how he did it. They are very confusing puzzles that must require some very elaborate clamping jigs to create. Check out his website to see more amazing work -- he even talks a little about how he made some of the pieces, but, not being a wood turner, it just confused me even more. His two pieces in this show are The Wheel on the Bus and

The Wheel on the Bus
myrtlewood and mesquite on granite base
Malcolm Tibbetts

this intestinally inspired(?) work, Perpetuity.

Perpetuity
carob on granite base
Malcolm Tibbetts

Another segmented woodturner in the show, who I hadn't seen before, is Curt Theobald. He had several of these elegantly turned and sculpted "eggs" on display, giving a modern twist on an ancient form.

Family
laminated and dyed birch, pernambuco, gold leaf, silverleaf
Curt Theobald

And there is Ray Feltz, a third segmented woodturner, who creates these breathtaking life-size eggs with thousands of matchstick-sized segments. His website includes images of his process here if you want to get an idea of how he does it.

Large Ribbon Egg
3816 pieces of blood wood, yellow heart, holly, and tulip wood

Ray Feltz

Small Ribbon Egg

3960 pieces of pink ivory, blood wood, holly, walnut, and lacewood

Ray Feltz

Also in this show was this piece by Stephen Hatcher. The design reminds me of skate eggs, which seem to find their way into a lot of art that I see, to the point that I see them even when their not there. Are these shapes skate egg inspired? I don't know but I like it either way.

Celestial Spheres
maple with translucent crystal mineral inlay, metal acid dyes, lacquer
Stephen Hatcher

Binh Pho's had a delicate vase in this show. I like how the natural red color in the box alder blends with the red paint he used, making it unclear whether the color is natural or painted. On a recent trip to Cleveland I saw one of Binh's cast glass pieces that he made from a piece like this. With all the negative space in one of these vases it doesn't seem possible that it could be cast in glass but I guess what makes great artists great is not being limited by what seems possible because I was told that he spent three years developing a technique to do it.

Nightingales
box alder and acrylic paint
Binh Pho

Nightingales (closeup)

I also ran across a couple of more pieces by Darrell Copeland. I particularly like the addition of a second color and form into this piece relative to the piece I saw at the arboretum. It makes me think that this one is more recent.

Harvest Moon II
cherry and acrylic paint
Darrell Copeland

And another piece by Christian Burchard. The title refers to the area of north Africa west of Egypt, which is new information for me. Perhaps he was thinking that the piece reminded him of wind swept sand dunes but this series always makes me think of flesh. They always feels very personal and very human while at the same time letting the wood be what it is in its most raw form. I find them very mystical in how they draw a visceral connection between people and trees.

Towards the Maghreb
bleached madrone burl
Christian Burchard

And finally, there where two great fish sculptures by Daniel Essig. This first one, a Gar, was in the show but the truly amazing one

Gar
mahogany, maple, mica, milk paint, handmade flax paper, tin, 19th Century books, fossils, shells, bones, insect wings, Coptic and Ethiopian binding

was upstairs in their furniture gallery. I love this learned and wise sturgeon, decorated with miniature hand made books (and you can lift them out of their mortises(?) to open them), sculpted old book page fins, and tons of other historical object it carries along. This species seems to play well with the themes of Daniel's work in that it is so ancient looking, seemingly unchanged for the 200 million years of their existence, much like his use of book-binding techniques that were developed at the beginning of the practice.

Sturgeon
carved and painted mahogany, handmade books, mixed media

And note the skate eggs floating below. Though I liked his piece I saw in the Renwick last year, this one seems to me to be more museum worthy. Hopefully, the right collector will make a generous contribution and, hopefully, the museum will find a way to let visitors open the books.

Asheville Trip Part I - North Carolina Arboretum

I was in Asheville, NC recently and was able to see three great wood art shows of which I plan on writing three blog post reviews. This first one is on the Fine Art of Wood: An International Invitational Exhibit of Woodturning, May 28 to September 6, at the North Carolina Arboretum. The show was facilitated with the help of the American Association of Woodturners as well as their local chapter the Carolina Mountain Woodturners.

The work in this show was truly exceptional, many of the top turners, worldwide, submitted work and I found it to be a real education in getting an overview of who's who in the turning world. Often when I go to a show I admire a lot of the pieces but there is usually one piece that stands out for me as the most captivating. In this show I couldn't pick a favorite. I've tried to do it but found that the attempt only resulted in a fifteen minute discourse about five or six different pieces.

With that said, this first piece is by the renown David Ellsworth, one of the godfathers of the modern woodturning movement. I like how he labeled the materials, "wood," because if you look at the piece, it just may have been some random piece of rotting wood pulled from an old wood pile, full of holes and mold/fungus but then turned (pun intended) it into an elegant vessel that transforms defects into beauty. The commonness of his material contrasts with and elevates his design.

Homage Pot

wood
David Ellsworth

In seeing the show I was very happy to learn about the work Graeme Priddle, a New Zealand artist who's work has been greatly influenced by Maori culture. The elliptical scars on its body really caught my attention because they remind me of trilobites and, besides being a lover of trilobites, I think they, along with the mat black color (from burning?) give it a real ancient relic look. But I also love the tusk like wood on the sides that utilize the heart and sap wood perfectly. My Asheville friend and chauffeuse for the day said she thought this was the most powerful piece in the show and I think she is right. It is small but conveys something really mystical. I had thought that the title might have referenced Maori culture but in checking with Graeme it turns out that it refers to the largest of New Zealand's tree ferns, Cyathea medullaris (Interestingly, I checked a second time with him to find out why it is called Mamaku Vessel if there is no Mamaku in the piece and he said he just likes the tree so much and wanted to dedicate the piece to it. And having seen pictures of it on line, I agree, it is a great tree. In fact, when I saw the image I had a flash back to a dream I had about 25 years ago, looking down into a valley and seeing what I thought was a forest of beautiful palm trees but I now realize they were Mamaku. I had also thought I was in Pakistan but I now know that the dream was set in New Zealand).

Mamaku Vessel
pohutukawa, mulga, copper, metallic thread
Graeme Priddle

Similarly, Jacques Vesery's piece, Second Sister from the Sky Forest, has a mystical feel to it, as if it is an ancient vessel that was left behind in the forests by a forgotten Indian culture, enveloped by moss or lichen but still retaining its beautifully executed original form.

Second Sister from the Sky Forest
madrone burl, curly oak, mica, acrylic
Jacques Vesery

Undulation by Tucker Garrison is just another of the many pieces in the show that just make you wonder, "how was that done?" I find the most amazing part about this piece being that he was able to maintain the same dimensions of the wood throughout all the undulations.

Undulation
cherry
Tucker Garrison

Andi Wolfe' Tesserae serai is both beautiful and fascinating. It probably isn't total coincidence that it reminded me of a pine cone when I first saw it because Andi is a plant systematics research scientist at Ohio State University and she uses plant biology for much of her inspiration. As she says in her blog post, this piece was inspired by the "microscopic landscape of seed coats." The title of the piece translates to "mosaic palace" and by bleaching the wood, she gave it a palatial feel.

Tesserae serai
Spalted Maple
Andi Wolfe

While looking at this piece by Hans Weissflog, a member of the Carolina Mountain Woodturners, Joe Ruminski, thankfully came over to talk to me about it and help to explain how it was made. The precision of this piece is breathtaking and it is hard to believe it wasn't made by some high tech computer aided lasers or routers, like Rich Tannen's work, but Joe assured me that it was all done on the lathe by hand and with only the aide of interior and exterior molds that he uses to mark the lines. If you can't tell from the image, the concentric circles on the inside and outside are perfectly cut only halfway through and with the same width for each circle.

Half Circle Stars Bowl
African blackwood
Hans Weissflog

In the category of trompe l'oeil sculpture is David Nittman's Raya de Negro. Although it looks like a woven basket, it is actually a wood turning that has been burned and dyed to create the pattern. This and the other piece he had on display at the show were both influenced by Native American designs but his website shows "baskets" that are influenced by African and Middle Eastern patterns. It is interesting that another artist, Lincoln Seitzman, also worked in the field of trompe l'oeil wood turned baskets but that both artists developed a completely different process and style. Who would think that a field so specialized could be so diverse?

Raya de Negro
European pear
David Nittman

In this closeup it is still difficult to tell it is a woodturning. Regardless of whether it is trompe l'oeil or not, the design is beautiful art that stands on its own.

Raya de Negro (closeup)

I find French artist Christophe Nancey's Empreinte to be a variation on trompe l'oeil in that he seems to have transformed his medium into something that looks more like stone. It reminds me of a volcano or a lunar crater.

Empreinte
oak
Christophe Nancey

Another French artist, Alain Mailland, created this great piece (apologies for the poor image), Octopus Garden. It is a good example of how he uses negative space to create weightless pieces that reference both ocean and floral imagery. It is all very organic but also thematic. As great as this piece is, I highly recommend checking out his website -- he has work on it that makes this look like it was made by an amateur weekend turner.

Octopus Garden
Alain Mailland

Binh Pho's Day Dream is a good example of how he integrates light and lightness into his work. It almost seems as if he is using paper rather than wood. I also like how he achieves balance through asymmetry, much like Caulder but not at all like Caulder.

Day Dream
maple, box elder, aluminum, acrylics
Binh Pho

The impossibly thin finials on Cindy Drozda's pieces are stunning. In reviewing her website I found it interesting that much of it is dedicated to her cats but her work seems to be decidedly un-cat friendly in that I can't imagine anyone with a cat being able to live with these sculptures. I guess that is why people make cases.

Metis (leftside)
eucalyptus gum vein burl, African blackwood with 4mm garnet
Green-Conscious (rightside)
masur birch, African blackwood with 4mm chrome diopside
Cindy Drozda

When I first saw Darrell Copeland's Enlightened, I was drawn to the gorgeous color and I loved the texture he carved into the surface (you can't see from this image but they radiate out from an off-center point) but in running into Joe Ruminski I was able to also learn that Darrell used seven colors of paint to get the effect (when I looked again, I noticed the variations, they really blend together well and must have taken a lot of time to create the effect) and that each of the squares are turned to create the concave shapes. It is a very beautiful and unique piece that combines painting and sculpture that is minimalist in form and color but complex in detail and execution.

Enlightened
cherry, acrylic
Darrell Copeland

Although an accomplished woodturner, this piece by Christian Burchard is one of the very few (only?) pieces in the show that didn't have any turning element to it. His work shows a real love of wood because he is just laying it out there -- "simple," raw, and naked. It really exemplifies the concept of wood as art as much as any work that I have ever seen.

A Certain Attraction
Bleached Madrone Burl
Christian Burchard

In 2009 he won the Society of Contemporary Craft's Founder's Prize and as part of the award they he made a video describing his process. I find it fascinating to watch because he shows how much work, and how much life, has gone into making something that looks so simple.

This final piece that I'll highlight is by Douglas Fisher, an artist from British Columbia who carves Native American designs into wood turned disks. His work is an interesting contemporary variation on a traditional art. In this piece I particularly like the off-set circles that frame the design, they give the piece more life, as if you are looking into a creatures eye and it is about to blink closed.

Yesterday is a Long Time Coming
maple
Douglas Fisher

Upstairs At The Renwick Gallery

Upstairs at the Renwick Gallery there is always more great work on view (which I visited after viewing A Revolution In Wood), some rotating, some on permanent display. My favorite of the permanent work is Wendell Castle's Ghost Clock (1985). The label says they acquired it in 1989 but the first time I noticed it was in the mid-90's (maybe '96 or '97?). It was placed between a couple of display rooms in a foyer-like space so it was particularly difficult to recognize as art. The only reason I noticed it was because the guard called me back after I past and told me to take a closer look at the label, which read simply, "bleached and stained mahogany." Still in disbelief at what I was seeing, he told me to look behind it (being placed in the center of the room, I was able to do this) and up from underneath to see a spot where the "sheet" and "clock" are connected. It has since been moved to a more recognizably art location, probably because the guard got tired of calling people back to take a closer look, and it now has its back to the wall so you can't get behind it, thus you'll have to take my word that there is a tiny spot (and only one tiny spot that you need to get on your hands and knees to see) where the deception is revealed. Update November 21, 2011: I was at the Renwick a couple of weeks ago and noticed it has since been moved back to the center of a room, so you can now inspect the entire piece to your hearts content.
The perfectly carved wrinkles, puckers, and dimples make it particularly deceptive. In addition, on past viewings I've felt that he somehow was able to sculpt the weave of the thread into the wood but on this last visit I finally realized that the open grain nature of mahogany creates the effect of giving it a thread count.
Also upstairs, as part of their rotating exhibit, was this piece by Christian Burchard, Basket Series (1997), made with madrone. He likes to collaborate with nature in creating his sculptures and these are a good example. It looks like he charred them to get a black interior. The brown exterior and the naturally warped surface gives them the look of leather and help the viewer to recognize that these objects came from a living thing.

It was interesting to see that Christian's piece was donated by John and Robyn Horn and across the room was this piece, Slashed Millstone (1996) made by Robyn Horn. She is in an elite group of collectors that are also great artists. I find her work interesting in a number of ways but in particular I like how she uses wood to create sculptures of stone. It is a little humorous really, but it also makes sense, you can't really make a sculpture of stone in stone without it being the object rather than the sculpture of the object, and other media (clay, metal, glass) would look too contrived or artificial. Wood, on the other hand, provides its own natural irregularities that mimic metamorphosed sediment. This piece is made with ebonized redwood burl.
It was also good to see Binh Pho's work. This piece, Journey to Destiny (2003), is made with oak, maple, gold leaf, acrylic paint, and dye. I saw a show of his work in one of his galleries over the summer and learned that he still works a full-time engineering job, which seems impossible given his level of art production and the intensity of his work. He must not need or want sleep.
And finally, there was this piece by Daniel Essig, Book of Nails II (2003), made with a virtual short story of materials -- mahogany, various metals, hand-made flax paper, velvet, linen thread, mica, trilobite, leather, paint, stains, and epoxy. It caught my eye because it reminds me of Janet Van Fleet's work with its use of nails and books. Too bad the museum has a case over the piece preventing visitors from handling it; the book would be interesting to close to see what it looks like with the nails surrounding the carcass and feeling their hard edges. It is very intriguing, a lot to look at, play with, and think about.