Sculpture created from wood is unique. It is unique both because of the process and the medium.

The process of creating wood sculpture makes each piece an original. Wood sculptures aren't castings in large editions. Each piece is created from a unique piece of wood, or a unique combination of laminated woods. The grain is different, the knots and natural imperfections which give wood its character - just like people - are different with each piece. Each time a new sculpture is created, even if it is part of a "numbered edition" the individual sculpture is a little different. My creative process is illustrated here. I hope you enjoy discovering how the four-foot walnut buffalo, "Driving Force," was created.

First, an idea is born. Ideas come to me at any time: while reading, driving, at a dramatic production, watching a movie, in church, while browsing through an art magazine, or sometimes simply while "experimenting" with clay. Sometimes I will simply start "sketching" in clay - meaning that I will start with some clay in hand and start letting things happen as I shape and mold it. I don't remember when or how "Driving Force" came to me. I just know that as I viewed buffalo sculptures I wanted to avoid the static "wooden nickel" forms that are so prevalent. I wanted a dynamic, twisting, turning driving force of a buffalo that so captures of imaginations of Americans.

WOOD IS A UNIQUE MEDIUM

Wood is a medium we naturally relate to. Most people want to touch a wood sculpture. In fact, we want to caress a beautifully finished piece of wood, be it fine furniture or fine art. If it is fine art it is conveying a feeling, expressing an emotion, creating a concept or recalling a treasured or meaningful memory. We relate to it. Its soul and our soul reach out to each other. If the sculpture is from wood we are drawn to make physical contact with it. An almost irresistible urge possesses us to caress the piece. I think that urge is explained by two simple facts: The first is that wood is the medium, if properly finished, that comes closest to feeling like flesh, in contrast to metal or terra cotta. The second is that when I look at a quality piece of fine art fashioned from beautiful wood I know down deep in my psyche that the tree from which that wood came grew from the same soil from which I grow. Unlike cold steel, or even bronze, which always remains "out there," a thing to behold but not touch, the wood and I have shared life. That wood was once alive in a tree that breathed my air and spread its branches for birds to make a home in and provide shade for other creatures of the earth. Like me, that tree has a birth, springtime of youthful bloom, summer of production, an autumn of incredibly beautiful splendor and maturity, and finally its winter of sleep and then death. I can relate! That wood and I share the gift of life and its natural cycle, making ideas expressed in wood all the more powerful.

A NOTE ABOUT LAMINATED WOOD AND SCULPTURE CREATED FROM A LOG.

Some people prefer a wood sculpture cut from a single piece of wood, like a log or big branch rather than a piece sculpted from laminated wood. For me, it depends on the piece. But the real issue, as far as I am concerned, is splitting. A sculpture cut from a log will crack or split. Walnut can be stabilized fairly effectively with polyethylene glycol if properly treated while still green, but I have found that most other woods don't absorb the glycol well, and still shrink, causing inevitable cracks. So if you want a wood sculpture that won't crack open, kiln dried wood must be used, and for the most part, quality hard woods like walnut and cherry can only be kiln dried up to about two inches thick - hence the need to laminate. I have found, however, that if properly planned, the laminating actually enhances the form.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "CARVING" AND SCULPTING

I'm on dangerous ground here and hope I don't offend the many wood carvers whom I admire. Technically, of course, sculpting is carving. Both methods cut wood away to create a form. Carving, in my mind, is usually associated with creating realistic images such as water-fowl or caricatures of figures, chainsaw carvings etc - many of which display enviable talent. For me, sculpture is more free spirited, more creative, and feels freer to create abstract shapes and forms to interpret and express an idea.