Category: Wood Art

Fulfilling a long time dream

I finally fulfilled a long standing desire to design and make a Greene and Greene inspired coffee table using only traditional joinery. I’ve always admired the ebony splines and “ cloud lift” features of Greene and Greene furniture. The reverse tapered legs really show off the quarter sawn white oak and the oil finish gives the whole piece a stunningly warm luster.

The project took several months to complete as I figured out how to accomplish the joinery and not ruin over $600 worth of quarter sawn white oak. There were lots of sketchbook sketches and head scratching!

Cultist plan and profile sketch

Playing with form and finish

This 5.5″ tall, 6.5′ diameter cherry wood lidded vessel features an ebony handle whose curve mirrors that of the wood grain. The visibility of the grain is heightened by the use of transparent red aniline dye.

Multiple coats of tung oil were applied to create rich luster that is smooth and creamy to the touch. Renaissance crystalline wax was used for the final polish.

Hunger Moon

A turned wood sculpture representing the theme "hunger Moon". A red hemisphere (sun) supports a dark green/blue sphere (earth) which in turn penetrates an 18" turned disc that is carved and decorated with a spiral design representing the top of a saguaro cactus. in the center of the disc is a hand cradling the cold dry polar region

“Hunger Moon, 18′ diameter, 8″ height” is the ninth sculpture in my Moon series, celebrating the names given to the full moons by indigenous peoples of North America.

Hunger Moon is associated with February’s full Moon. At that time of the year, hunting and gathering would have been severely limited due to the cold and snow.

My interpretation shows an outstretched hand cradling the northern polar area of the earth as it pierces a basket illusion representing the top of a saguaro cactus.

This piece will have its inaugural reveal Friday March 11 at the Tubac Open Studio Tour. I will be located with 5 other artists at 2364 Camino Esplendido, Tubac, AZ.

“I disent” Update

…keep the flame alive

two sculptures as tributes to Ruth Bader Ginsberg. They include a representation of her "I disent" collar, the supreme court and a flame holder

I have now completed two tributes to Ruth Bader Ginsberg. In these troubling times the Supreme Court appears to be moving in a direction where once again, men make decisions about women’s bodies without regard for their own culpability or the health, financial security, and safety of the women and families involved. Why is our society so hypocritically set on denying citizenship to DACA recipients, young people who are ready or already have entered the labor force to be productive, contributing citizens while forcing women to carry a pregnancy to term where the child faces an uncertain future. How we are missing the sage judgement of RBG.
The piece on the left, is at D&R Art Gallery and Studio – until Oct 9 (5350 E Broadway Blvd, Suite 156, Tucson, AZ) and the piece on the right is at On the Edge Contemporary Gallery, (19 Tubac Road, Suite 300, Tubac, AZ)