Tools & Techniques
The Woodworker’s Journey: Concept to Creation Koji Tanaka (California) This is an abstract wallhanging sculpture representing the Hawaiian goddess Hina of Hilo and her demi-god son, Maui. Hina is symbolized by the overall crescent moon shape as stories tie her ascent to the moon. Maui is birthed/ emerges from Hina, as symbolized by the fish hook as well as the outrigger sail form, which represents his many adventures on the seas.
Akua Koa
Roger Asay & Rebecca Davis (Arizona) The act of seeing, unencumbered and direct, can be a transformative experience. Our artistic collaboration attempts to bring raw materials of the natural world into clear view, to be encountered as if for the first time. For this exhibition, we chose Manzanita, which is a unique shrub native to the Central Highlands of Arizona. As the plant’s dead wood ages, the exterior surface’s red bark gives way to a rough silvery grey, while the interior wood turns from unblemished white to an ever richer and more patterned red. Shaping and polishing this jumble of sticks into a spherical form draws out the contrast of inner and outer wood. Made with one of our favorite materials, we are pleased to share with a Maui audience. Manzanita Sphere Manzanita
The Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Hawai’i celebrated its 25th anniversary, Jan. 7-Feb. 25, by hosting the invitational exhibition, The Woodworker’s Journey: Concept to Creation. This show featured work by a select group of 25 established furnituremakers and sculptors from Hawai‘i and the U.S. mainland, with distinguished careers in working with wood. As part of the exhibition’s theme of “Concept to Creation,” each invited artist was asked to make one new piece for the exhibition. The work could be utilitarian or conceptual in design, decorative, carved, turned, an assemblage that defies function, refined conventional, or freeform fusion. The primary material had to be wood, however additions of other materials were acceptable. Participants also were asked to document their approach/ process and their work, as it developed. Thereby, visitors were given a glimpse into the process of conceptualization, visualization, and fabrication through original drawings and photographs depicting stages of making. This pictorial highlights work from the exhibition by participants from Western states, along with their artist statement. A video relating to the exhibition is available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLXzlZAD37o&feature=you tu.be/.
Paul Schürch (California) A concept is born through imagination, where a quirky idea can give one a fresh insight to enjoy wood in a different way, and where design, skill, and craft converge, creating art. My current body of work explores different patterns of wood inlay over larger surfaces. I enjoy the flow of shapes, patterns, lines, and attempt to be sensitive to the materials. The image draws the viewer in for a closer look, and upon finding a thousand coffee beans of inlaid wood, they may even come across little details and purposeful mistakes here and there, all left to be discovered. It is an odd application of patience that is needed for such work, but thankfully, I did so enjoy creating this Maui Mango toasted edge coffee bean piece!
Waldo’s Coffee Mango Page 38
Woodworker West
March-April, 2020
