Holy Father Sculpture

Holy Father is a piece from a series I am currently working on called Vessels of Life. This piece was chosen by jury for publication in the 2015 copy of Trillium an award-winning journal of literature and art published by Piedmont College. When I began working with the wood hollow form, I began to see that the hollow form lends itself sculpturally extremely well. Being a blacksmith as well, I naturally wanted to add forged metal elements to my hollow forms. As I began to do this, the pieces began to come alive for me, and I began to liken them to humans. For what are humans if we are not vessels. The emotions that we feel, experiences that we walk through: love, hate, lust, greed, happiness, goodwill, and the unwillingness to change. These things trickle in and pool inside of us, making us who we are. I have tried to capture this and portray it using the wood hollow form and metal. The wood with its growth rings, grain patterns, flaws, cracks, bark inclusions, and sometimes insect damage, reflects the trials of life we all have been blessed with. The iron with its hardness, sharp edges, twisted curls and coldness, show the identity that we, or the world, has placed upon us. This cold metal identity is truly our own cross to bear. I have used three types of wood in this piece chinaberry, sycamore and red cedar. Both with their own life trials to show. In addition to using hand-forged steel, I have also incorporated different dyes and stains, both natural and synthetic, and the use of copper wire. I finish my pieces with a high gloss lacquer. I am very interested in sculptural woodturning. While there are many great artists dealing with this today, I believe that using the lathe in the sculptural process is still in its infancy, and I, for one, am very excited about its future.

Sculpture:Wood on Wood

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:5.5 W x 10.5 H x 5.5 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.