Here in the Northwest, the trees are so spectacular that they grab your attention and demand to be noticed and admired. St. Augustine, Florida artist Joe Segal’s work does the same. His sculptures are a celebration of these kings of the forest, their textures, patterns, their cycle of life.
Instead of a literal translation of branches and limbs, Joe instead chooses to focus on the core of what gives a tree its strength, character and economic value, the hard, fibrous wood.
By cutting, stacking, carving, painting, even burning the wood, Joe re-envisions the pattern of the tree’s life. He takes the normal processes for which and by which wood is harvested and calls our attention to the beauty of the materials in their simplest forms.
The steel used to cut the tree becomes instead, the connecting force that holds the wood together. Pieces of stacked wood, recalling a firewood pile, are juxtaposed with charred wood creating an interesting “before and after” effect.
Working with the nature of the materials, rather than against them, going with the grain, if you will, Joe is exploring the rhythms of the natural world and reinterpreting them into beautifully designed works of art.
To see more of Joe’s work, check out his Pick of the Crop page here at Artsy Forager, where you’ll find a link to his website. I hope you love it as much as I do.