"10-Meter Diver" Sculpture

I live in a North Carolina oak and pine forest, surrounded by the media in which I work. My forest provides solace in its peaceful chaos and spiritual sustenance in the material it provides for my work. I value these attributes and strive to maintain its ecological balance and health by practicing sustainable, non-interventionist forestry. I harvest only downed, dead-fall/windfall trees and those showing rot, infestation or other indicators of terminal condition. I sculpt self harvested natural whole round oak, walnut and other available hardwood timbers. Commissions are negotiable - Lead times vary depending upon the project, workload and ready availability of suitable timber. I don’t do portraits, I do impressions. My voyage to the Here and Now. In the summers 1954 to 1959, I apprenticed to my old-world carpenter grandfather, Morris Brown, and learned that the concepts; ‘Square,’ ‘Level’ and ‘plumb’ where vexing to my dyslexic mind. I did discover however, that given a suitable chunk of wood and a knife, chisel or gouge, I could easily make sculptural forms. During the 10-years between 1959 and 1969, I served in the U. S. Army, married, fathered children, did poorly in business and was divorced by my wife. In a state of depressed desolation, while moving out of our home, I rediscovered my grandfather’s tools chest. It hadn’t been opened in years and the scent of Morris’ hands and old iron that wafted out, brought me back to the old man’s side and simultaneously projected me into what would eventually become, Now. In 1971, I became a hippy woodworker, met the self-proclaimed, (deservedly so), “Genius Cabinet Maker of San Diego,” Mr. Jack Kelsey, who became my second grandfather, at whose side I worked and from whom I learned HOW to work hardwoods. Jack had also introduced me to Jack Hopkins, a UCSD art professor, who opened my mind to concepts not found in, but based upon, joinery techniques of traditional carpentry/cabinetry. Of all of his "art" students, he chose me to be his assistant and we worked together in his studio, building laminated forms that he then, eventually, permitted me to sculpt into their final figures. In 1979, both Jacks passed away, another marriage ended and I hard-learned the lesson that I couldn’t earn a living building one-off custom furniture. Having no reason not to, I did what some men do, at the failure of love and life ashore. I went to sea.