Ginko Plate

[Bob Rotche]

I recently took a class with Dixie Biggs at John Campbell Folk School about carving on woodturnings and this is what I came up with. It is a ginko leaf theme carved on the rim of an 11" cherry plate. Background is pyro textured and finish is danish oil. Obviously heavily influenced by her work. Honest opinions always appreciated.

230496230497230498

[Jim Burr]

Next thing you know...you and Mike Gibson will be in cahoots!! That has everything you want in a project Bob...you did good!

[Bill Wyko]

Truly georgeous. An excellent design and done so well on the proportions & wood selection. Bravo.

[charlie knighton]

very nice, the ginko leaf wood grain does not follow the cherry grain, or so it seems to me, is it glued on the rim or carved on the rim, it looks like its carved except for the grain patterns.
Obviously heavily influenced by her work, when you work with someone, its can very hard to establish your own stlye, as long as you are enjoying your work do not worry about it, it will come as you progress. seems you were doing bowls 9 months ago??????///

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beauty Bob. It is well done.

[Roger Chandler]

Fine artistry Bob............your work is really being refined to a new level..........congratulations!

[John Keeton]

Bob, I like the concept, I like the carving, and the piece is well done overall. The only other comment would be that for my tastes, I would prefer the carving not go to the outside and inside edge of the rim - perhaps just a bit of separation with the dark texturing, a line, or some other nondescript barrier to "contain" the carving. Just my personal taste - certainly not a negative on the work!

[Sid Matheny]

So are the Ginko leaves carved from Ginko? I never worked Ginko but remember the rancid smell of the trees. For the piece I do like it.

Sid

[Michelle Rich]

you learned good!

[Tim Rinehart]

Great job Bob! I knew this would be a killer when you got around to finishing it. The colors and texture came out fantastic, I think you should be happy with this and I suspect you are.

[Mike Golka]

Well done, looks like some old dogs learn new tricks quite well!

[Jon Nuckles]

That is some beautiful carving work! Gingko leaves are among my wife's favorite designs; she would love this.

Note to Sid: there are male and female gingko trees, and only one of them smells awful (can't remember which one). I think it is the fruit that stinks, but am not sure.

[Bob Rotche]

Thanks all for taking the time to comment. Dixie is a fantastic artist and an excellent teacher and I would strongly encourage anyone to take her class if they get the chance. I'm definitely looking forward to doing more carving work in the future, though it is much more time consuming. Jon, you are correct. It is the female ginko that produces the extremely foul smelling berries. Most people just get the male trees at this point.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very cool! Nice work on the relief carving! Looking forward to seeing where you take this!

[Curt Fuller]

I think this is a beautiful bowl. There is something in the randomness of the leaf patter that really appeals to me. Then when I read John Keeton's comment mentioning that he felt some sort of barrier would add to the carving I realized that was what appealed to me....the lack of a border or barrier. That's the beauty of art, the fact that there is no right or wrong, just different tastes. But I think this bowl is one of the most appealing carved patterns I've seen.

[Bob Rotche]

Thanks again for the comments. Curt and John, I find both of your opinions very interesting and both points of view echoed by several other posters on different forums. The decision to have the leaves flow off the edge was a very conscious one for me. I am very interested in the concept of violating frames and borders and of the subject "escaping" out of a confined space and look forward to exploring this more in the future. Interesting how art truly is in the eye of the beholder as some seem to find the lack of border disconcerting or making the piece look less "finished".

[Scott Lux]

This is a great piece. I'm in the break-the-barriers school of thought on this one.

[charlie knighton]

just a thought, most segmenting pieces seem to have borders, Jonathan Garcia (http://www.aawforum.org/photopost/showgallery.php?ppuser=21565&cat=500) and others work probably would not fit that statement, but the mainstream segmenting pieces