Woodworks: How it started

I started woodcarving the moment I saw it being demonstrated by another artist. I bought a gouge and a mallet, found some cedar branches on the ground and carved my first piece, “Mermaid”. I was showing “Mermaid” to a shop owner when one of her collectors came in a bought her. Green light!

The excitement and fascination during the carving process is when you begin to see the figure emerging and that excitement continues to completion. The joy of the finished piece brings me endless amusement and surprise at how far a carving can go, and what it ends up becoming.

All of the various woods that I use are reclaimed or found pieces.

Many of the figures I carve are based on characters from theatre productions. The cover art feature, “Zebra”, was inspired by a Cirque de Soleil performance character of the same name and posture. “Zebra” is the lid portion of a box sculpture base and flows upward from her vessel-grounding like an emerging nymph from the forest floor.

Woodcarving became the natural extension of my fine metals ring smith work. The rings got big, the wood accommodates the expression of the larger works.