Michael Brolly is a master woodcarver who creates stunning works for both eye and mind. His show at Penn State-Lehigh Valley is a wonderland of creativity that’s fun, whimsical and often awe-inspiring.

“Michael Brolly: Redux,” in the Ronald K. De Long Gallery, features creations ranging from a 6-foot ray fish made of gleaming wood, a large wooden bird-like creature that doubles as a jewelry box, a broken heart that can mend itself and delicate vessels of either wood or glass that seem like miniature tornadoes.

The 21 objects are not only witty and great eye candy, but many also are functional as containers, tables, desks or bureaus.

Possibly his most well-known work is a wooden whaling boat that plays music to communicate with whales. It is not in the show, but was at the opening reception Jan. 26.

Brolly, a Bethlehem resident, grew up in Philadelphia, the son of Irish immigrants who came to the United States from Northern Ireland. He earned a BFA from Kutztown University where he studied under master woodworker John Stolz and now is a teacher of wood arts at Bethlehem’s Moravian Academy.

“I was really shy as a kid,” Brolly says. “And when you’re shy you spend a lot of time alone. Art has always offered me a very comforting and grounding place to dwell. When I was young, I would spend hours in the basement making things. I hand-carved things. I never used machines.

“Probably the most important thing that art has done for me is to help keep my feet planted firmly in a world of incredible and ever-expanding wonder.”

While at Kutztown, Brolly was introduced to wood-turning machinery. “There was a lathe in the corner and for four years I was doing all this stuff,” he says.

“The lathe is the only tool that can make itself,” he says, adding that wood-turning is one of mankind’s oldest crafts. Brolly can rattle off a litany of terms to describe the art of turning and carving wood on a lathe, like skew and gouge, scraping rough burr, but the point, he says, is that it allows precision. And precision is evident in all of his work.

“If you can pull the craftsmanship off, you can get to do just about anything,” he says. “I didn’t know then what I know now; that I can wrap my mind around some elemental concept and make it go from mind to paper to reality.”

His work “Thinking of my Mother-In-Law Marianne and Those Magnificent Mahogany Breasts” from 1996 is a bird-like creation of mahogany, maple, walnut, ebony and cherry that incorporates brass and steel. It stands about 3 feet tall, an imposing creature that once one gets to know it, doesn’t seem as imposing. It is also a clever jewelry box, with hidden compartments and hinged wings that double as hanging racks.

That kind of clever whimsy is seen throughout his work. “The Martian,” for example, is a Martin D28 guitar with a green wood grain front. At first glance it looks like an acoustic guitar — and it is — but the sound holes are almond-shaped eyes and through them you can see a circuit board.

The board is the electronics for a built-in theremin, an electronic sound device that controls amplitude and frequency through movement. All six strings are antennas, and an antenna is incorporated into the body of the guitar. As the musician plays and moves about with the guitar, sounds are created.

“I’m no musician,” Brolly says. But he does have an interest in sound, and this led to “Sephira,” a whaling boat he created to communicate with whales.

“How Do We Say We Are Sorry: Singing to Whales” is a talk Brolly gave for the “TEDx LehighRiver” series in 2015. In it he told the heartfelt story of how “Sephira” came to be created.

Around 1995, Brolly moved his family to New Bedford, Mass., to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. New Bedford (where “Moby Dick” begins) was once a rich whaling community and is home to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, where Brolly discovered the world’s largest model ship resides.

Brolly took his family to the museum, where he discovered it had recordings of whales talking to each other as well as a collection of old maps that featured mythological creatures. He found the museum enlightening and depressing, he says.

“The museum became like a Holocaust museum to me,” Brolly says, tearing up at the idea of the massive extermination of whales. “How do we say we’re sorry about all this? The slaughter was incredible.”

Brolly surmised that the ropes hanging from the ships and blowing in the wind were calling the whales by sending vibrations through the water. Brolly began making large musical instruments — “gymnasium-size instruments.” One of the first was a wire he strung from the basement to the fifth floor of the university art building. As one went up and down the steps, you could play it, he says. “It sounded like a heartbeat. It was amazing.”

He contacted William Close, the inventor of the Earth Harp, and proposed a collaboration, a sound box made from a half-boat model Brolly created. The result was successful and when Brolly came to Bethlehem to teach at Moravian Academy, in 2013 he completed a full-size version in a St. Ayles skiff that is 22 feet long and 6 feet wide. “It kept my dream alive.”

The boat is strung with brass piano wires that can be played with rosin-covered gloves to mimic the sounds of whales. In 2013 he took the boat to Scotland for an international St. Ayles skiff race just to play it in an area where whales come.

The point of “Sephira,” says Brolly, is “talking to other intelligences so we can save ourselves.” “Sephira” was played by students from Moravian Academ at the reception for “Redux.”

Some of Brolly’s most fascinating works are small, delicate pieces of wood rendered through a process of sandblasting. “Homage to My Mother” from 2015 is a three-dimensional corset, about 12 inches high, made of Douglas fir sitting on a bronze armature.

The ribbing is composed of delicate pieces of wood, incredibly thin and constructed with patience and skill. Brolly says he had to use a rubber mold to get to both sides by carefully sandblasting away first the light part of the wood, so that the dark part stays.

The same technique was used for three pieces that incorporate photographs. “Saigon,” “Atom Bomb” and “Fleur” are three-dimensional works in which screens of sandblasted wood act as a viewing device in a shadow box, capturing or mimicking the photographs behind them.

In “Atom Bomb,” for example, a photo of an atomic explosion seems etched as a mushroom cloud in wood on the front screen in incredibly detailed and precise strips of wood.

It’s this kind of detailed process that elevates the works outside of the normal sculptural form.

“I like learning,” he says. “I like pushing it.”

In “Broken Heart” from 2008, Brolly makes it look simple. Two pieces of wood seem to be heart shaped but split — a broken heart. The magic happens when you turn them over. “If you turn it over, it heals itself,” he says, turning the pieces over and joining them into a perfect heart shape. The piece was designed as a gift to the doctor who performed his open heart surgery in August.

“It is very good that making art has that comforting, grounding quality for me,” he says. “I guess I could say that many would be shocked to find that I, my own self, was surprised when it finally dawned on me just how autobiographical my work can be.”

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Benjamin Strobel is a woodturner who takes the wood from the trees that are cut down at Harvard and turns them into bowls and pens. His products have been given as gifts to guests on campus or sold online at http://www.cambridgebowl.com. His bowls and pens have been popular within the Harvard community and have served as a reminder for many of their time at Harvard. The Harvard Crimson sat down with Strobel to discuss his work.

The Harvard Crimson: How did you learn to turn wood?

Benjamin Strobel: Woodturning and woodworking has been in my family … for about three generations now … [My grandfather] has been turning wood for many years. He travels the world and picks up wood from different places and then turns it into things. Then he passed it down to my dad and eventually to me, so that’s how I kind of started.

THC: How did you start turning wood from trees from Harvard?

BS: My dad is a professor at Yale, and he started a similar company to the one I have at Yale, and I helped him. Wood would come down on campus, and he would gather it up and he would turn it into bowls and pens. I had a friend at the Harvard Business School, and his wife wanted to give him a special gift. She wanted to give him a set of three pens. One from where he did his undergrad, one from where he did his graduate program, and eventually his MBA. I happened to have wood from the other two places, and so she went and scavenged around and talked to all of the arbors and the people that work on Harvard’s campus… I turned the pens for them and delivered it. He absolutely loved it. He showed it around to a bunch of different colleagues and professors on campus, and there was this overwhelming sense of “this is really cool; you should do this.” This is a great way to spread the heritage of Harvard and tell the history of what’s going on here through these items, these bowls and pens that tell a special story.

THC: Many guest lecturers have received your bowls and pens as gifts. Can you tell me who some of those guest lecturers are?

BS: I know a couple have been sold to the Kennedy Center. A cool story connected with that is that the house renovations are going on right now, and there is this tree that was in Winthrop and Gore Hall courtyard facing the river. This tree was probably, I estimated, around 120 years old, over 100 years old. And it was planted there when the buildings were renovated about 110 years ago. I found a postcard of an image with the tree as basically a sapling from almost a 100 years ago… When John F. Kennedy was an undergrad he lived at Gore Hall, and they still have a room that’s preserved for guests that come to stay at Harvard. So they have been giving it to people that come from the Kennedy Center as delegates.

THC: As an artist, what is your favorite thing to make out of wood?

BS: I really enjoy making the pens, and then seeing the reception that I get from the pens. For example, I just made—this happened this week—a set of pens for President Obama. I made it from some White House wood. If you look at the 20-dollar bill, it’s the tree on the right side… I made a pen from that. I heard … that President Obama received them, and he was really enthusiastic about it. That’s my favorite part—seeing people’s reactions. But I really enjoy turning the live edge bowl, when you see the bark on the bowl. Just because it looks so natural. It is something unique that you hardly ever see. Those are my two favorites. I have also made lots of tables and furniture from trees where I leave the bark on the side. Everything is up there for me, being a wood enthusiast.

THC: Where were you most excited to receive wood from?

BS: I had two places on campus that I was really excited about. I have a tree … an oak tree, in between the John Harvard statue and the President’s office. That’s one of the oldest buildings in academia in the United States. So that’s cool that I have a tree from there. I would love, love, love to get some of the elms in Old Yard. I think that that would be fantastic. I also have some trees from the Tercentenary Theater that are pretty cool, you know, where graduation takes place. There is this quote by FDR where he gets up, and he says, “The roots of Harvard grow thick into the past,” and he was amongst these trees that are now in my driveway. I think that that is kind of cool, that he references something that I can physically hold in my hands. The stories behind the trees is what really makes it worth it. It makes it interesting.

THC: Do you have a favorite wood turning story?

BS: The Marshall’s office works closely with the President. Jackie O’Neil, she’s in charge of the Marshall’s office, and she’s kind of the ambassador, helper to President Faust. And she gave one to President Faust…and she [Faust] looked at it and said, “This is the coolest thing since sliced bread.” I have that as a bragging right.

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Michelangelo, the Renaissance genius who gave us the David statue, said his technique was basically to cut away all the stone that wasn’t David, and then he was done.

Fast-forward 500 years to rural Shelbyville, and we find wood-turning craftsman Jeremy Williams adopting a similar approach. His medium is dead wood rather than stone, and that wood is often twisted, holed and decorated by the ravages of disease into artsy shapes and patterning. Chucking up a chunk of this on a huge lathe in a chilly workshop veneered in layers of sedimentary sawdust, he gets to work.

“I remove material until I have my desired size and shape,” explains Williams, 31. “With most kinds of woodworking, you take pieces and put them together to build something. With me, it’s the opposite: instead of putting parts together, I make shavings until I’m done.”

And while Michelangelo freed statues from the embrace of stone, Williams liberates a parade of exquisite wood bowls, vases, wooden bodies for ink pens and even wine bottle stoppers. He has been known to fashion chess sets when the mood moves him, and is open to doing commission work. He says customers bring out their deceased wood from favored felled trees and call upon him to transmute it into utilitarian art.

Otherwise, our craftsman prowls “wood dumps,” looking for the dead and diseased raw material the rest of us don’t want. Under his loving hands, it becomes objets d’art that command prices ranging from $5 to about $400.

“He makes some very nice utilitarian pieces, and a particular interest of mine are his ink pens: He uses so many different woods and they are of very high quality,” says Carol Kessler, the owner of the not-for-profit Flourishes Gallery and Studios in Shelbyville.

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After presenting pristine woodcrafts at the annual Sagebrush Rendezvous art show for the past several years, local artisans Harold Pollard and Elbert Henderson will be in the spotlight for this weekend’s festivities as the two featured artists for the event.

While not alone in showcasing masterful works of art with over 30 different artists present for the upcoming two-day event, Henderson and Pollard’s works refined after years of woodshop tinkering will be the most prominent displays — honored for their mastery of wood-related artwork.

The annual event, held at the Running Y Ranch Resort Saturday and Sunday, includes artwork from local artists, a wine and beer tasting, and numerous prize drawings throughout the two days. Most importantly, it’s a chance to not only view artwork by local artists, but interact with them directly to discover the methods used to create their finished products. For many of the artists’ works, including Pollard and Henderson, the art show takes a hands-on approach rarely found in galleries, encouraging an extra dimension of experiencing art by feeling and touching the completed designs.

For both Henderson and Pollard it is the first time either has been honored with the featured artist distinction for one of Klamath County’s most prestigious art shows, though both have shown their works not only at past Sagebrush Rendezvous events but other galleries as well.

Pursuing a passion

For Henderson, his obsession with woodcarving grew in retirement pursuing a passion that was first sparked at an early age. With the help of his father, he made a wooden boat as a child. Later in school he created various projects in woodshop classes, while he and his brother shared a lathe at home tinkering with different wood shapes. After retirement, Henderson helped his brother build a woodshop, further adding to his interest in woodcrafts.

Expressing an interest in learning the art of woodturning specifically, he was invited by a local master woodturner to accompany him to the Utah Woodturning Symposium in Salt Lake City, an internationally renowned annual showcase of the world’s premiere woodcrafters. A memorial display of Ray Allen’s work, who pioneered segmented southwest style vessels, piqued Henderson’s interest, and after acquiring a book about Allen’s method, Henderson soon set to work establishing his own designs.

Years later, Henderson has created hundreds of bowls and plates, ever-more complicated, utilizing Allen’s methods while giving it his own unique spin. For Henderson the creative process begins with pencil and paper, where he meticulously maps out mathematic patterns for different-sized wood blocks and how they will be shaped together to create a single item. One single project can take upward of 100 hours of dedicated work.

“It takes a certain amount of focus and dedication to complete one,” Henderson said of his intricate and multi-layered bowl designs. “Sometimes the wood is thicker than what I first visualized and so the design will change, but mostly the creative process is on paper. I follow the plans once they are all mapped out.”

Henderson is an active member of the American Association of Woodturners, the Southern Cascade Woodcrafters Guild and the Klamath Art Association.

‘Functional art’

While Henderson’s woodwork is comprised mainly of show pieces, Pollard’s materials take on a more “functional art” perspective as usable items like tables and cabinets. Big, heavy and polished to a fine veneer, Pollard’s work began as a means to fill the home with furnishings. An employee of Jeld-Wen who works on specialty products three days a week, the other four are spent in his woodshop where one single project can take up to six months to complete.

Originally from Louisiana, Pollard first discovered the Klamath Basin while stationed at Kingsley Field air base. He later returned, married, and eventually settled in Klamath Falls, where a need to build furniture for the home soon turned into a passion.

“I just started building things for the house, and it just graduated up from there as I burned out equipment and had to get bigger stuff,” laughed Pollard. “My wife would come up with designs that would really test me, and I eventually reached this pinnacle. Now I can walk away from a finished piece and say, ‘Wow, that is beautiful!’”

The hobby turned into an obsession about 15 years ago, as Pollard’s designs became more involved and complex. As the price tag for his projects grew, as more specialized woods and epoxies were needed, eventually he began selling items — much to his wife’s chagrin in letting go of pieces she would have preferred stayed in the home. His big break came when author Ray Hemachandra contacted him after seeing images of Pollard’s completed work online, and included one of Pollard’s projects in a published book titled “500 Tables: Inspiring Interpretations of Function and Style.”

Growing interest

Inspired by the book’s validation of his work, the demand for Pollard’s work quickly grew. His finely veneered tables and other projects became highly sought as functional art pieces. He receives custom order requests as well as sells completed works of his own design, often finding inspiration from a single piece of wood itself after spotting different shapes and designs hidden within the wood — like animals or faces.

Pollard’s completed works come with a hefty price tag, indicative of the amount of labor and materials dedicated to personally handcrafting each item. Polished smooth to a glass-like finish, his work is time-consuming but the completed material takes on both a rustic charm and factory floor shine as functional art that must not only be seen but felt also to truly appreciate.

Interaction encouraged

While both artists occasionally take their work to other shows, Sagebrush Rendezvous remains a sentimental favorite as the premiere local art event, as well as how it is organized. The event encourages interaction with artists to ask questions, provides opportunities to experience art in new ways and see the creative process at work. The event includes a quick-draw competition, utilizing pencils instead of guns, and a beer, wine and cheese tasting along with over $1,000 in door prizes.

“They (Sagebrush Rendezvous) really have been nice to me, and they bend over backward for the artists there,” said Pollard. “They’ve been great. A lot of people who are fellow woodworkers come to the show and ask how I did this or that, so that’s why I bring some cross-sections so I can show how I made things. I try to show people how it was done, why it’s so labor-intensive. I think people appreciate it more if I’m able to explain the process.”

“I like the number of people who come to the show, and the wide range of folks I meet,” added Henderson. “I enjoy meeting new people more than anything. It’s not so much about selling things, though reducing inventory makes room for more projects. I like the opportunity to interact with people, and I usually have a sign on my table that reads, ‘please pick up.’ I have a hard time looking at something unless I can physically feel it, there’s an added dimension of appreciation when I can touch it, and I want others to experience that too. I look forward to this show every year.”

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A wooden block starts to spin on Gordon Jenkins custom-built treadle lathe when he taps the lever with his foot.

The crowd gathered watches as Jenkin’s and his colleague, Zack Bernard, master the unique craft of shaping wood at the Eptek Arts and Culture Centre in Summerside on Sunday afternoon.

The lathe, which was used as a demonstration to the crowd, was built for the Culture Summerside craft mentorship project last summer.

The P.E.I. Wood Turner’s Guild mounted the exhibition that showcases talented and intricate pieces of wood transformed into art and furniture.

A nostalgic spin was put on the exhibition that delved into the life of Herb Leavitt, who operated a commercial wood turning business in Alberton in the mid-to-late 20th century. Many Islanders will remember his array of bird’s-eye maple products.

Jenkins, a wood turner for 50-years, said he got into the craft because of Leavitt.

“Herb Leavitt took me into his wood turning shop in Alberton because of my mother, and I was amazed to see all these gadgets,” said Jenkins, who demonstrated his handmade lathe to the public. “Herb took me under his wing at the age of 10.”

A perfect fit: Co-president of the P.E.I. Wood Turner’s Guild, Jim Wicks, showcases his intricate Funeral Urn made from bird’s-eye maple, tiger maple and walnut.

The work, submitted by several members of the guild for the public to enjoy, ranges from bowls, salt and pepper shakers, chess pieces with board, flower vases, pens, funeral urn, and candlestick holders, to name but a few.

Diane Gaudreau submitted her handmade candlestick holder, which she carved from quilted maple, highlighting its beautiful grain.

“I have a wood working business on the north shore of the Island since 1980, and I’ve been woodturning from a young age,” said Gaudreau, who owns a shop called Woodmagic in Rustico. She added, “My husband, who passed away in 2011, was a wood turner and I have his lathe now, so I make good use of it.”

Co-president of the P.E.I. Wood Turner’s Guild, Darrell DesRoches, said he has been turning wood for 25 years and hopes more people will be inspired by the variety and skill of woodturning and join the guild that meets once a month, on the last Wednesday.

The exhibition remains open to the public until Feb. 24.

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The P.E.I. Wood Turners Guild has mounted an inspiring exhibition of recent work once again at Eptek Centre.

The exhibition opening will take place this Sunday, Jan. 22 at 2 p.m.

Several members of the guild have submitted a variety of pieces for the enjoyment of the local public.

“The work ranges from small, unadorned bowls to wafer-thin vases and segmented turnings. The variety of woods used is also interesting,” a news release states.

“Jim Wicks of the guild did a great job in bringing together this representative collection of items together.”

As has been the practice in prior exhibitions by this group, a sample of work from a departed wood turning expert has been included. This year, the focus is on the late Herb Leavitt who operated a commercial wood turning business in Alberton in the mid-to-late 20th century. Many Islanders will remember his array of bird’s-eye maple products.

Another special treat is the custom-built treadle lathe made by Gordon Jenkins for the Culture Summerside craft mentorship project last summer. Demonstrations with the lathe will be conducted from time to time during the exhibition and the public may be invited to try their hand at working the lathe, under supervision of a qualified turner.

Everyone is welcome to the opening. Jenkins will deliver remarks in memory of his mentor, Leavitt.

The work remains on display until Feb. 24.

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When Abraham Tesser enters my living room on a recent afternoon, he immediately notices a rocking chair crafted of twigs and asks, “Is this by Don Bundrick?” His curatorial eye is already on the alert.

Tesser is the curator of “Wood Works: A Regional Exhibition,” which will showcase turnings, furniture, art and craft. The large-scale show opens at the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation on Friday, Jan. 20, along with a solo installation by Tennessee-based artist Denise Stewart-Sanabria and a love letter to the area from Jackie Dorsey. If you are hankering for visual stimulation—or at least an escape from the inaugural circus—the evening looks promising.

Tesser began dreaming about and planning for an annual exhibition of wood art more than four years ago. Along the way, he did a lot of looking throughout the Southeast, exploring galleries and scouring craft fairs looking for extraordinary work. Tesser knew artists in town, and they turned him on to others in the region.

Tesser is not new to envisioning significant local cultural events. After retiring from UGA’s Department of Psychology, he began work on the Athens Jewish Film Festival, which has grown to have about 1,000 attendees a year and brings in filmmakers from across the globe. “Wood Works” is another personal mission. He felt there was a real gap here, a missing piece where the medium of wood was concerned. “It’s new for OCAF, new for me,” Tesser says. “I’m the one with the background in woodworking, so it makes sense.”

An accomplished craftsman and furniture-maker in his own right, Tesser’s enthusiasm for woodcraft stems from his own process. “I went from a concern with technique to a concern with design. If you have a vision, you can almost always figure out a way to accomplish it. I love the process by which my hands and eyes transform raw wood into an object. But what lasts is the object.”
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The inaugural invitational show will display work by more than 35 artists. “It was more about the work than the people,” Tesser says. “It was work that I thought was interesting in some way, because it was unusual or it was so well done. I wanted a variety of wood applications.”

The Moulthrops, that well-known “first family of woodturning,” are represented. Philip and Matt, the son and grandson of Ed Moulthrop, will both have works on exhibit. According to Tesser, “Matt, the youngest, is trying to take things in a new direction. He has been making tables out of poison ivy.”

Furniture in the show ranges widely in style. Alf Sharp of Tennessee has created museum-quality pieces for the home of Andrew Jackson and was the 2008 winner of the Cartouche award, the Society of American Period Furniture Makers’ highest honor. Craig Nut, who created “Corncorde,” a commissioned sculpture of a large-scale flying corn cob for the international concourse at Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta, shows the same affinity for humor and vegetables in pieces like his “Lima Bean Chair.”

A number of works are fashioned out of wood but appear to be made of other materials. Many of Michael Gibson’s stunning teapots appear to be related to traditional Japanese cast-iron pots; others seem as delicate as porcelain. Harvey Meyer’s elegant woodturnings are embellished by piecing, burning, coloring and carving. The results evoke traditional Native American basketry and have a quiet and graceful presence.

There are five women participating. Asked if he thinks wood is a man’s medium, Tesser shakes his head “no” and says, “Clay is much more pliable, I would think—perhaps more feminine than wood. But I actually think of wood as being very sensual. It can be soft and inviting.

“I don’t think it’s the medium,” he continues. “I think it’s somehow the tradition we have inherited. Many women seem to gravitate towards two-dimensional work. But there are, of course, notable exceptions. The person whose work has been something of a figurehead for the show is Sabiha Mujtaba. Oh, that beautiful chair! And you can look at that work and guess, I think, that it is by a woman.”

Ellen Gibson, a sculptor in the show, is the head of an organization of people who build timber-frame houses—no dainty process.

Plenty of locals will be featured, including Larry Millard, Didi Dunphy, the Sons of Sawdust, luthier Scott Baxendale and Tad Gloeckler. Gloeckler, a professor of interior design at Lamar Dodd, “makes things so beautiful and so complicated that part of the experience of the works are his instructions,” says Tesser. “His pieces are imaginative and intricate. You cannot appreciate them truly without a demonstration of how they work.”

In “Quantum Continuum,” Denise Stewart-Sanabria uses charcoal drawn on life-size or larger plywood cutouts to depict contemporary human figures.The exhibit is a conceptual installation based on theories of the existence of parallel worlds. These theories, in the artist’s words, “range from solid research to the more esoteric work of Lewis and Kripke, which has a tendency to sound like the conversation of a couple of 1960s-era grad students on acid.” While words like “quantum” tend to make me focus on important things like picking lint off of my sweater, Stewart-Sanabria’s gifted hand and technique have me eagerly anticipating the show.

The third exhibit opening at OCAF that evening will be “Athens Celebrated,” Jackie Dorsey’s homage to her adopted hometown. Dorsey will show watercolor portraits of local celebrities like Okinloye Ojo, host of WUGA’s “African Perspectives,” and Hugh Acheson. She portrays many musicians; her painting of Mike Cooley was recently accepted in the 150th annual International Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society and will be moving on to NYC after this.

OCAF director Cindy Farley assures us that “the works in OCAF’s first three exhibitions of 2017 will have visitors captivated.” The opening reception will be held on Friday, Jan. 20 from 6–8 p.m., and all exhibitions will remain on view through Friday, Feb. 17.

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He says he can’t judge his own work, but it is obvious Dave Mills possesses a remarkable artistic gift.

Mills’ life has always been lived close to the natural world, and his connection to the beauty of the physical landscape shows. He loves to leave the raw edge or the bark exposed in his woodturning pieces, acknowledging the perfection and uniqueness of the tree itself. Mills has made it his mission to draw out the distinctive qualities that each piece of wood holds, and use them to make utilitarian objects: Bowls, platters, plates, and vases. He likes to make things you can use everyday, and that become an integral part of your day-to-day life.

Mills and his wife Kathy bought their property in Alpine County in 1971, building their cabin on the land in 1988. The couple had always wanted to raise a tree farm, and they had a broad vista filled with sage and bitter brush, so they set to work planting Jeffrey pine, tamarack, Austrian pine and aspen. Often Kathy would plant up to 200 trees in a single day.

They nurtured the young saplings themselves and have created their own miniature forest, dubbed “Zuni Pines.”

Mills was born in Marin County and moved to Tahoe when he was 7-years-old. He and Kathy were high school sweethearts and have been married 44 years. Together they ran the full-service Chevron Gas Station (just torn down in Minden next to the Bentley construction project on Main Street) for over 35 years. Living in Tahoe, they commuted over Kingsbury until moving to Woodfords.

When their business sold in 2004, Dave bought an old Montgomery Ward wood lathe that had gone through the Acorn Fire. He read all the books he could, and started taking classes. It was then that he saw an ad promoting a new club, the Carson Valley Woodturners.

Mills joined club members Al Mason, Dave Rich, Dave Colon and Wayne Allen in creating the club, which meets twice per month. Mills currently serves as president. Club members teach each other turning skills, how to sharpen tools and identify different types of wood, and exchange new ideas. There is a waiting list to join, but they encourage new members. Their website is carsonvalleywoodturners.com.

The group has also partnered with Silver Stage High School in Silver Springs, Nev. to instruct the students how to turn wood. The group trailers down all the equipment and supplies needed and create the curriculum.

In the end, it is what Dave finds inside the wood that excites him the most. It is always a surprise to discover the true characteristics of the raw material. He has been turning “spalted” wood (just beginning to decay) and finds it requires precise timing to know when the wood should be used. Often these works have sections of hardened sap that glow a magnificent amber in the light. Look for unique and beautiful new pieces by Dave at the Carson City Art Gallery at 110 South Curry Street. The Gallery can be reached at 775-313-8628 for hours and directions.

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The former engineer says he’s always lived by the principle of keeping himself busy and learning something new. Born Newcastle, in the North of England in 1936, he showed his engineering skills from an early age. “I built a shed when I was 12 but I dread to think of what the electrics were like. It was still standing when I was over 10 years ago,” he says.

Mr Black’s National Service saw him working on an RAF base servicing missiles and he also took a fitter and turner apprenticeship. However it was when he was working as a junior engineer in a ship yard, he took what he describes as ‘his pier-head jump’ when a colleague suggested he went to sea.

“Paddy told me to go and see one of the docked ships to have a look around,” he recalls. “So I did. I saw a second engineer who asked me what I did.”

Thinking he hadn’t enough experience, Mr Black explained he’d only just finished his apprenticeship. “He then asked me if I could polish brass,” says Mr Black. “I asked what about the rest of the work? He said I’ll teach you the rest, but we’re catching the 4pm tide!”

“So I went back home, packed and was away for the next 12 months – I was 21 and two days,” he says.

For the next few years, Mr Black sailed the world, before suggesting to his wife they lived in New Zealand. After a couple of years they flew to Australia eventually settling in South Australia. Here he worked at the cotton mill and Arnott biscuit factory before another change in direction when he got a building licence aged 55.

Now Mr Black voluntarily modifies, designs and builds equipment for Technical Aid for the Disabled (SA). “One size does not fit all; I just see what the person needs and make it,” he says, highlighting one gadget he made which, when strapped to the person’s arm, helped them to continue playing bowls. “I had to have two goes at that one as I hadn’t accounted for the person not been able to twist their arm to bowl,” he says.

When looking at his wood turning, Mr Black makes a variety of items from toys with wooden moving parts to intricate clocks. “I’ve no idea where I get the ideas from!” he says.

Then there’s his music. “I’ve always sung and do play the clarinet. I was around 60, my friend Ron suggested I try playing the saxophone,” says Mr Black. Now he and Ron, who is also in his 80s, regularly entertain residents in living retirement villages or residential homes. “We play anything from the 40s, 50s, or 60s,” he says – jokingly adding they didn’t make any music after these eras!

In between times, Mr Black is the volunteer supervisor at his local men’s shed and an avid reader. “I love history,” he says.

Mr Black believes in keeping both your mind and body active and while he admits to having a few ‘aches and pains’ and having a cataract implant, he still says anything is possible. “There are only two things I can’t do – I can’t work a computer and I can’t make babies!” Although having fathered two sons, he has even played a part in the latter.

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A new exhibition at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre will bring two contrasting art mediums together in one colourful and talented show.

Duet features the wood-turning work of Michael Hamilton-Clark, and the acrylic paintings of Mihaela Stefan.

“We thought that (the two styles) are so different that there would be no competition,” says Hamilton-Clark.

His smooth wooden bowls, plates and ornamental pieces will be surrounded by Stefan’s brightly-coloured paintings.

Coincidentally, they each found a love for their media around the same time.

In 2006, after being diagnosed with cancer, Stefan was taking her dog for a walk in Montréal when she saw the beautiful orange, red and golden colours of the autumn foliage.

“I said, ‘I hope next fall to see these leaves again.’”

So with a tiny brush, she painted for hours and hours to create the branches and leaves of her piece, Autumn Symphony.

As she battled cancer and underwent radiation treatment, she spent a lot of time painting and writing.

“Luckily, that kept me so busy that I didn’t have time to think about being sick,” she says.

Twelve years later, and she has quite the portfolio.

“I’m proud of the diversity of my art. I have (everything) from portrait to abstract to landscape,” she says. “Each and every painting has a story. Everything comes from my imagination and what happened in my life.”

She often goes back and repaints some of her work.

One of her favourite pieces is Happy Childhood, a portrait of her then seven-year-old son, Michael, sitting on a chair surrounded by toys like a train, Darth Vader, and E.T. He is also holding a flower.

But Happy Childhood actually started out as Flower for my Mother, a simple portrait of Michael in his pyjamas, holding a rose.

The inspiration for that original painting came when Michael asked his mother, a classical ballet dancer at the time, why she didn’t get flowers at the end of her performance. The following day, after Stefan’s next performance, little seven-year-old Michael surprised his mother with a flower at the end of her dance.

Later, Stefan went back and added more detail to Flower for my Mother. What emerged was Happy Childhood, a carefree portrait of her young son and everything that pleased him.

“Like dance, painting is an art without words,” she says.

Her work is full of personal portraits like Happy Childhood, as well as brightly-coloured abstracts, and beautiful landscapes. Those pieces will encompass Michael Hamilton-Clark’s earthly woodwork.

He’s been spinning wood on a lathe for 12 years, and in that time he’s made nearly 1,000 pieces and spent approximately 5,000 hours turning wood.

“Turning isn’t all plates and bowls,” he says. “There are all sorts of forms one can do.”

Hamilton-Clark also makes ornamental pieces, pens, jewelry and figurines.

“What I enjoy more is the inventive and creative process.”

One of his most recent creations are his two-piece ‘wazzos’. It comes from the French word with the same pronunciation, ‘oiseau’. And, yes, all of his wazzos are birds.

They have a penguin-like look to them featuring stout bodies, and removable and rotatable heads.

Wood-turning began for him when he wanted to make lids for jam pots for his family’s breakfast table. He used a friend’s lathe at the time, but it didn’t take long before he went out and bought a small, inexpensive one to have for himself. He’s since upgraded to a much higher quality lathe which can turn pieces of wood as large as two feet in diameter.

Hamilton-Clark works in a variety of woods including cherry, maple, ebony and oak. A lot of the wood he uses comes from friends who are falling trees.

His favourite is maple.

“It is very rewarding. It can be quite plain, or it can be highly figured,” he says.

Figured wood features detail going across the grain.

“Half the fun is cutting into the wood to see what’s inside,” he says. “You start turning and you see things. You might change (the piece) because of the grain.”

Hamilton-Clark’s work is for sale at Vancouver International Airport and at Crafthouse on Granville Island.

As wide-ranging as Stefan’s paintings are, so are Hamilton-Clark’s wood-turned pieces.

“They’re both creative processes and allow one to express one’s individuality,” he says.

You can check out Michael Hamilton-Clark’s woodwork and Mihaela Stefan’s paintings in the art gallery at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre.

Duet runs from Jan. 12 to Feb. 18 with an opening reception this Saturday, Jan. 14, from 1 to 3 p.m. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. from Wednesdays to Saturdays, plus in the evenings before some show performances.

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