Archive for the Work in Wood Category
Published May 13th, 2011
Bamboo mosaic
16.5 x 16.5″
This is one of my four bamboo mosaics that will be on exhibit until June 5 at the Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, NJ for my 2-person show with landscape painter Michael Schweigart. If you’re anywhere near the river towns of Lambertville (NJ) and New Hope (PA), please join us Saturday (tomorrow) night from 5-8 pm for our opening reception. Our show “Meditations on Nature” features Mike’s beautifully detailed landscape paintings, my silverpoint drawings, paintings of glass spheres with natural elements: stones, cinnamon, bamboo, and mosaics in wood and bamboo.
My bamboo mosaic process requires lots of time, energy and exploration. First, I split the dried bamboo poles and rough-cut them. As my design ideas unfold, I cut shapes, scribe the pieces to fit, sand the undersides flat, and hand-sand the edges of each piece to a fine bevel. I use epoxy and metal weights to adhere the pieces to the back panel.
Please email me for purchase of this work for $800 plus shipping.
Published March 28th, 2011
Bamboo mosaic
16.5″ x 16.5″ on panel
I’m thrilled with this mosaic! After much experimentation with the cutting and patterning possibilities of bamboo, I created this work. Each piece is a natural tile, and the edges are finished with a slight bevel.
The poplar frame I designed for these mosaics is deep enough to keep all the edges protected. This work, and whatever others I’ve finished, will be included in my May show with the Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, NJ. More about that as the time approaches.
Published March 14th, 2011
Bamboo
These elegant bamboo pieces will become part of a larger mosaic, but right now I’m exploring shapes, patinas, “interior” design…
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Published March 8th, 2011
Bamboo
Here are more photos to show how I’m working with bamboo; these pieces will eventually become part of larger works. Two 16×16″ panels will be completed soon, and I’ll post them here. Much more to come!
Published December 20th, 2010
Happening now online is “Earthly Pleasures: It’s Easy to Be Green” on Crafthaus. I have three pieces, all wall-mounted wood mosaics, in this show. One is a natural bamboo mosaic that I posted on November 14 – titled “Bamboo.” Each bamboo tile has a slightly hand-beveled edge. The others mosaics that are on exhibit are “Pisces Rising” and “Genesis.” These were very intricate mosaics, consisting of hundreds of hand-scribed pieces, all made from scraps that were discarded by local wood shops – too small for them to keep. They became the materials that I gilded, painted, textured, interlocked, and with which I fashioned flames, waves, ribs…. Check it out on my website and Crafthaus.
“Pisces Rising” 48″ x 24″ 
“Genesis”62″ x36″ 
To purchase, please email me.
Published November 14th, 2010
Bamboo mosaic
14.25″ x 14.25″ mirror frame
This piece was made specifically for the upcoming Crafthaus online juried exhibition “Earthly Pleasures.” The idea was to create something green, that is, reclaimed or recycled from local material.
A construction crew doing bridge work in my neighborhood was thinning out a grove of bamboo and feeding it to a “chipper.” I asked them to set a few aside for me that day, and later hauled about 8 or 9 very long, heavy stalks back to my studio. It turns out I really love working with this beautiful natural material, and the curvier the better. I split open the bamboo to reveal the chambers and have a focal point that I built the piece around. I also wanted to incorporate a variety of natural “patinas.”
Aren’t you curious what’s inside?
Please email me if you are interested in this piece.
Published June 30th, 2010
Detail of a wood mosaic
Materials: “waves” are poplar wood painted in blue glazes; “beach stones” are natural woods of cedar, poplar, spalted maple
This is a detail of a larger mosaic, based on one of my favorite themes. It grew naturally from my Meditations series of paintings and silverpoint drawings. This work will be part of an online exhibit called “Off the Floor” through Crafthaus. I’ll post the full image here next month when that show is up and running.
As you’ve seen on my blog and website, I love working in 3 mediums, but I will say that working in multi-media does have its pros and cons. The most difficult is the energy and time involved in marketing. The most rewarding is exploring a particular theme over multi-media: via a paintbrush, a silverpoint stylus, or in the case of my wood mosaics, a band saw – and being sensitive to each medium.
Email me if you have any questions about my work. Thanks for visiting!
Published January 29th, 2010
Poplar wood mosaics
painted, hand-beveled and sanded
These are some shapes I’ve been working on for some of the next mirror frames (see previous posts on these). It’s a tedious process involving lots and lots of sanding. I use the band saw to work out some free-form shapes, then hand-craft with an assortment of home-made sanding tools. Each piece has got to be beautiful on its own. Eventually I’ll work the rest of the mosaic around a few of these; not a pre-determined design. That would take the fun out of it for me.
You never know what will inspire you – in this case it was my lava lamp!
Published January 26th, 2010
Poplar wood mirror frame
24.5×24.5″ dye, paint glazes
By now you’ve noticed that I have extensive bodies of work in three mediums: paint, silverpoint, and wood. “Fiesta” is the second in my developing series of fine art mirror frames. All of these are wood mosaics. I painted/dyed poplar wood panels before cutting the disks on a band saw. I then hand-beveled the edges using various grits of sandpaper, course to fine, to cut through the color thereby enncircling each disk with a ring of light wood.
The first mirror frame “Currents” was posted here on December 8, 2009. Other references to these are in the October 8 and September 22, 2009 posts.
Please email me if you are interested in buying this hand-crafted mirror frame. The 12″ x 12″ x 1/4″ mirror is included.
Published December 8th, 2009
Wood Mosaic (mirror frame)
29×29″ poplar, cherry, mahogany, walnut
Every year New Hope, PA has a national juried Works in Wood exhibition at the Arts Center. “Currents” is one of two Fine Art Mirror Frames that I submitted; both were accepted. Read about it here.
This is the fifth year of Works in Wood and I’m happy to have exhibited my wood mosaics in all of those shows. To see those works, please visit My Website.
To see more details of this mosaic, please see The Art Fly archives of Sept. 22 and Oct. 8.
Please email me if you are interested in this work. The 16″ x 16″ x 1/4″ mirror is included.
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