Burls
"Windows" series: After twenty years of working with wood I have become intimate enough with the material that I can look at a tree and I am able to visualize the wood that is under the surface. By reading the bark, I get hints as to what the grain is doing down there, and how that will affect the patterns, reflectivity and colors of the material. For years I've been looking for a way to give others a window into this experience and my "Windows" series is how I've chosen to do that.

A burl is a ball of convoluted grain that will sometimes grow on a tree. No one really knows what causes them, but the beautiful and unusual wood that forms in the burl has been prized for hundreds of years. I have been collecting burls for a long time and, to me, working with burls is like cutting gems; you only get one chance to open them up and reveal the beauty inside to it's best effect. Every one of them is unique. In the rough they may look bulgy or warty, but inside there are whole galaxies to be seen. Cutting into them and polishing that surface offers a window into those nebulae; playing with the juxtaposition between the natural outer surface and the exposed inner surface is, I hope, a way to bring us to a closer interaction with the nature around us.

Marquetry and Parquetry

The art of marquetry traces it's roots back to the ancient Egyptians and has had golden ages in the Renaissance and Art Nouveau periods. It is a technique by which one cuts wood veneers and "paints" with them to create images. These images are then adhered to a substrate and often built into a piece of furniture. Parquetry is a similar technique that instead of being pictorial, is based around geometric and usually repeating forms. Artistically challenging and technically demanding, neither of these methods are often practiced today.

As with any fine art, the modern marqueteur is offered the opportunity to draw inspiration from the masters of the past, while also dealing with the challenge of finding their own voice in a form that has been practiced for centuries. My work is inspired by the Nature that is around me, from the landscapes of my home to patterns that I see while going through my days.