artsy forager

Tag: wood

  • The Mirror Has Many Faces: Reinhard Voss

    The Mirror Has Many Faces: Reinhard Voss

    The We Are the Contributors mini project got me thinking recently about the various roles we play.  Yet we aren’t just taking on different tasks, we’re often putting on an almost completely different persona according to where we are and with whom we’re interacting.  These sculptures by German artist Reinhard Voss, with their Cubist-like style seem to give us a physical manifestation of the various faces we put on.

    Not Exactly by Reinhard Voss OT by Reinhard Voss Sickle Veiled by Reinhard Voss Hampstead Heath by Reinhard Voss Novel Ro by Reinhard Voss

    Voss’s sculptures are created by piecing together strips of wood, leaving our eyes to see the varying grains and planes making up each face.  The effect is eerie at times, resulting in a face contorted or seeming to have been erased.

    The different “faces” we put on can be so similar, can’t they?  We might lose our mouth ( i.e. hold our tongue ) in certain situations or be blinded in others.  How often do we are we truly showing who we are?  In what company do we feel we can show the most honest face?

    To see more of Reinhard Voss‘s work, please visit his website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Found Colossals: Ron van der Ende

    Found Colossals: Ron van der Ende

    We are in the land of the giants today.  Today’s plan includes seeing a bit more of the Redwoods and driving through a tree!  I’ve been wanting to do that since I first saw a photo of the Chandelier Tree many moons ago.  These enormous trees, the huge haystack rocks in Oregon and just the wildness of the Pacific remind us of how very small we are in this large universe.  In his bas relief sculptures, Dutch artist Ron van der Ende uses found wood to sculpt and “paint” his own colossal objects.

    Airstream RV by Ron Van Der Ende Yoshiwara by Ron van der Ende Cross Section I by Ron van der Ende Yaw by Ron van der Ende Watershed ( Yosemite ) by Ron van der Ende

    Bas-relief sculpture is all about angles and perception.  When viewed from one angle, the sculpture may not make sense, but when taken in from the front, it seems to float in true 3-dimensional form.  As van der Ende is creating his pieces, he uses pieces of painted found wood to create the colors you see– these aren’t sculptures constructed, then painted.  The artist is painting with the found wood.  Using the existing finishes of the wood in such a way creates a wonderful sense of texture, which only serves to amplify the depth created by the bas-relief technique.

    I hope those last two images give you a sense of the enormity of scale van der Ende employs, making these sculptures as imposing as they are impressive, just like our friends the Redwoods.

    If you’d like to see more work by Ron van der Ende, please visit his website.

    All images via the artist’s website.

  • Stark Gentility: Bruno Walpoth

    Stark Gentility: Bruno Walpoth

    I seem to have a thing for pale, sad faces right now ( Exhibit A ).  But just take a look at these wood sculptures by Italian artist Bruno Walpoth and tell me how I could not share them with you?  Modern, young faces full of poignant longing, these pieces are the anti-selfie.  Representations of true emotions felt by real people, rather than a facade put up to show the world how cool and hip we think we are.

    Bruno Walpoth Bruno Walpoth Bruno Walpoth Bruno Walpoth Bruno Walpoth

    There is such a vulnerability about these gentle wood portraits.  That seems to be an emotion we could all stand to use a bit more of in our interactions.  To be honest enough, with ourselves and others– to truly be real in the way we communicate with our fellow humans, might go a long way in creating the connectedness that so many of us long for.

    To see more of Bruno Walpoth‘s stunning work, please visit his website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Friday Finds: A Little Birdie Told Me So

    Friday Finds: A Little Birdie Told Me So

    One of our favorite things about living at the lake this summer has been our evening walks.  Once the heat begins to wane, all the birds begin to sing.  We often end our walk by making our way down to the dock where we sit and watch birds both great and small as they hunt for dinner.  I’ve even told George I’m going to take up serious bird watching.  I’m going to be a funny old lady with her huge hat and binoculars watching all the birds that fly by.. So today’s round up is brought to you by some pretty little birds of the artsy kind that I’m admiring this week!

    Mindy Hawkins
    Maribel Angel
    Abigail Brown
    Sophie Woodrow

    Mindy Hawkins | Maribel Angel | Abigail Brown | Sophie Woodrow 

    What say you, Artsies?  Want to grab a big floppy hat & your sunnies and join me on the dock for some birdwatching?  Happy weekend!

    Featured image is by Abigail Brown.  All images are via the artists’ websites, linked above.

  • Assemblages of our Discarded Past: Aaron Moran

    Assemblages of our Discarded Past: Aaron Moran

    I have always been a lover of things past.  Some of my favorite places have been cities or towns that truly celebrate their history, even revel in it.  To walk into a building that has been repurposed and restored is such a delight.  But it seems that more often than not, older buildings and homes instead of being loved and revered are neglected and then torn apart to make way for the shiny and new.  The sculptural work of Aaron Moran uses pieces of found architectural wood to create works that are as complex and chaotic as our history.

    Progress Sprawl, found wood, acrylic, graphite, house paint, varnish, 23x19x21

    Each piece becomes a small monument to our collective history.  Just scraps might be affixed to repair a dying structure, so these scraps from buildings long gone are bound together physically in each work and spiritually in their shared destiny.

    Low Base, found wood, metal, acrylic, house paint, graphite, 19x12x14

    Instead of languishing at the bottom of a landfill, these relics become sculptural harbingers of what we hope may be our fate– to leave behind a little of ourselves, to know that our existence is remembered and celebrated.

    Geom Ridge, found wood, acrylic, house paint, pencil, 11x8x9

    To see more of Aaron Moran’s work, please visit his website.  My husband and I used two pews from the church where my grandparents were married for our outdoor wedding last year.  It meant so to have that continuity and share in the past as we began our future.  Is there a building from your past you wish you had a part of?

    Featured image is Tier 2, found wood, acrylic, house paint, graphite and varnish, 10x13x14.  All images are via the artist’s website.

  • And One, No Make That a Bunch, to Grow On

    OK, maybe we’re not taking a total break from color today.  Spotted this installation by Marilee Salvato and just had to share it with you!

    Growth Patterns, etching, digital prints mounted on wood, this installation 7’x34′

    Be sure to check out her website for more images of the incredible installation!

  • Requiem for Modern Relics: Michael Todd Harrison

    Requiem for Modern Relics: Michael Todd Harrison

    I grew up in a household where old things were relished and appreciated.  My dad and brother refurbished antique cars.  My mom had a knack for painting and reusing old furniture.  Family vacations were taken to historic sites instead of Disney World.  So it isn’t any wonder that I have a fondness for the sculptural work of Seattle artist Michael Todd Harrison.

    13, assemblage

    Architectural fragments and wood are stacked together as building blocks of these humble monuments to the past.  Some of Harrison’s pieces, like the one above have a charming, vintagey-homey feel, as if they were plucked directly from the wreckage of a derelict Queen Anne home.  Others, such as Burst, are more abstract in feel and organic in shape, carefully hap-hazard.  In the artist’s hands, what could have simply been a pile of scrap wood becomes an explosion of line and shape.

    Burst
    Spiral

    Harrison’s latest series, Skyscrapers, takes inspiration from walks through the city, with it’s tall monuments built long ago by men who have since been all but forgotten.  There is a poetic loveliness in these folksy, wooden sculptures paying homage to albatrosses of glass and steel.  A reminder, perhaps of architecture’s humble beginnings, as well as our own.

    Skyscrapers
    Small Church

    To see more of Michael Todd Harrison’s work, please visit his website.  He is currently the Artist-In-Residence for the James W. Washington Foundation in Seattle during the month of February.  You can keep up with his residency work here!

    Featured image is Horizon by Michael Todd Harrison.  All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Artsy Design Finds: You Bowl Me Over

    Artsy Design Finds: You Bowl Me Over

    Happy Valentine’s Day, Artsies!  I hope you have plenty of love being lavished on you today and lots of folks in your life to love on.  Here’s something I love:  serving pieces that are a perfect balance of function, beauty and artistry.  Here are a few beauties I found, pretty enough to serve the ones you love!

    Ceramic Bowl by OneClayBead

    source

    Ceramic Bowls by Aida Dirse

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    Pottery by Yassi Mazandi

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    Medium Bowl by Kurt Anderson

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    Frilly White Collection by Liz Kinder

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    Blue Carnival IV Elm Bowls by Natural Selection Studio

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    Hope you enjoy a wonderful V-day, hope it includes a meal with your favorite person ( or people ! ) and if served from a beautiful, handmade bowl, even better!

    Featured image is the Dots Collection by Liz Kinder, available here.  

  • Elegant Embodiments: David Engdahl

    Elegant Embodiments: David Engdahl

    I have not tried to reproduce nature, I have represented it.

    — Paul Cezanne

    Never where these words more true than in the work of sculptor, David Engdahl.  The former architect has been shaping wood to create beautiful sculptures for over twenty years.  Inspired by the forms in the environment surrounding his home in north Florida, Engdahl takes his cue from organic shapes, simplifying or exaggerating them to create elegant embodiments of the natural world.

    Lamelliform 128

    Using plywood, a mechanically manipulated natural material to create these organically inspired sculptures creates a dynamic tension between the material and inspiration source.  By taking a normally lower level type of wood source and creating spledid sculptures, Engdahl is not only taking something “ugly” and making it beautiful, but also hearkening back to the wood’s original forms.

    Lamelliform #91
    Lamelliform #21

    The beauty in nature is all around us.  But we rarely notice it, much less ponder it.  Engdahl’s work may help us recall the glimpse of  antlers in the woods, the shadow of a sea turtle making its way across the surface of the deep or the swaying of thin branches in the breeze.

    Lamelliform #200

    He brings nature and artifice together in a way that reminds us that they can work together to reveal the best in each.

    To see more of David Engdahl’s work online, visit his website. Be sure to check out this wonderful video in which the artist explains his creative process and give you a glimpse inside his home studio.  If you’re in the North Florida area, stop by Studio 121 at 121 W. Forsyth Street in downtown Jacksonville, where he will be the featured artist, August through October.

    Featured image is Lamelliform #194.  All images are courtesy of the artist’s website.

  • Pick of the Crop: Not Your Average Joe

    Pick of the Crop: Not Your Average Joe

    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.

    Segal_Break

     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.

    Segal_Within VIII

    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.

    Segal_Center VII

    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.

    Segal_Cleave VII

    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.