Mykola Kulishov

Mykola Kulishov is a self-trained woodworker and artist. Originally from Ukraine, he currently lives in California. Mykola has been working with wood for more than 30 years. Long time wood shaping was his hobby, because his main occupation was research and engineering in a field of photonics and fiber optics. Now, at his retirement, this hobby has been turned into full time work in my garage-studio. His works explore the beauty and character that exist in wood, often as a result of environmental conditions. In that regard, wood is like a person: stress and living conditions develop interesting character in both. Much of the wood used in his sculptures is salvaged wood, repurposed from felled trees in the Bay area, trees that are given a second life in a new form. Using carving techniques that he learned in his native Ukraine and perfected here, in the USA, wood carving has become his creative refuge. His works have been featured at art exhibitions in San Francisco, Kyiv, Palo Alto, and other cities in California, Canada and Ukraine.

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Institute of Cybernetics, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (PhD in Photonics)