 Artist's
Statement
A “late bloomer,” I have been a member of Ferndale Arts
for two years and I have sold my work through our gallery in Ferndale
as well as Caravan of Dreams in Arcata, Gallery M in Half Moon Bay and
Northwest Fine Woodworking in Seattle.
I became interested in turning because it allowed me to see more immediate
results from my work and I could complete a piece in a relatively short
time. The other thing I like about turning is that it is very free and
spontaneous. Furniture making is very exact—the joints and dimensions
must be precise for the pieces to fit together well. With turning you
don’t necessarily need to measure anything; you can do it completely
by eye, which I prefer.
In turning I start with a chunk of wood,
which is rough and at times rather unsightly. (I generally never know
what the finished piece will look like beforehand.) Then as the
tool cuts through the outside layers and goes deeper and deeper, many
wonderful surprises are revealed - colors and grain patterns, spalting,
bark inclusions, knots and other natural “defects” which
add to the beauty of the piece. Over the past few years I have been taking
art classes at College of the Redwoods, and my recent work incorporates
more color and texture.
I am a member of the Humboldt Woodworking Society, and have shown my
work in local shows – College of the Redwoods Wood Fair, Plaza
Design and the Morris Graves Museum of Art. I have participated in the
annual Box and Container Show at Northwest Fine Woodworking in Seattle
for the past 4 years. In 2001 I was awarded the People's Choice Award
at the show at Plaza Design, and 3rd place for Small Projects at the
CR Wood Fair for a pair of maple end tables.
It all began more than 20 years ago when a nursing job brought me to
rural northern California, where I did not have family or friends. To
fill my free time I enrolled in an adult education class in woodworking,
first making a coffee table for my apartment.
This experience of building
something useful, using tools for the first time and creating a functional
object out of a stack of rough wood was so satisfying and exciting to
me that it ultimately changed my life. I was unable to forget about woodworking,
and several years later, I decided that I could move to nursing part-time,
and take woodworking classes at College of the Redwoods in Eureka, as
well as a few summer classes at the Fort Bragg campus.
Over the years
I acquired tools as I could afford them and developed my own shop. My
career as a woodworker began when friends asked me to build something
for them. I built very few things from plans gotten from a magazine. Very
early on I started creating my own designs. I love the challenge.
My designs
evolve over time and sometimes even during the course of building the
actual piece. Discovering the beauty of wood has been a constant source
of delight and wonder. The color, grain, depth and tactile nature of
wood are something I enjoy very much. It is not an easy medium to work
in, but the rewards are great. When each piece of wood works in harmony
with every other piece to complete the whole it is a very satisfying
experience. Even years later when I see something I made, it fills me
with pleasure, like seeing an old friend. |
