Curt Fuller
12-17-2006, 12:27 PM
I made a trip to the big city library yesterday and picked up a book, "Contemporary Turned Wood" by Leier, Peters, and Wallace. I'm not much of a reader so if a book doesn't have a lot of nice color photos it doesn't get too far with me. This book really fit the ticket. It isn't new, it was put out in 1999. So many of you have probably already seen it. But it has some really incredible work in it. It's not a 'how to', just a great collection of inspirational work. It also contains some very interesting thoughts and quotes by some of the great turners.
In it it says that Ed Moulthrop believes that each bowl already exists in the trunk of the tree and that "..one's job is simply to uncover it and somehow chip away the excess wood, much as you would chip away the surrounding stone to uncover a perfect fossil entombed in the stone."
I also liked a few of the lines about Bob Stocksdale. He says "The Chinese have been borrowing my forms for two thousand years." The writer says "Rather than concerning himself with making a personal statement by using unusual form, Stocksdale has always focused on creating individual bowls which best display the unusual grains and colors of exotic woods."
Then, this morning I read on another woodturning forum about the passing of Frank Sudol. Until reading about his death I have to admit I'd never heard of him. But there was a quote from him that was really good, "The message for my students is you will never be remembered for what you copied, but you will be remembered for what you created ... Once you reach inside, you will have original work."
It's pretty interesting to me when I find out how inspirational some of these great artist and turners are not just in their work but in their thinking too.
Anyway, if you get a chance to thumb through Contemporary Turned Wood it's worth the time.
In it it says that Ed Moulthrop believes that each bowl already exists in the trunk of the tree and that "..one's job is simply to uncover it and somehow chip away the excess wood, much as you would chip away the surrounding stone to uncover a perfect fossil entombed in the stone."
I also liked a few of the lines about Bob Stocksdale. He says "The Chinese have been borrowing my forms for two thousand years." The writer says "Rather than concerning himself with making a personal statement by using unusual form, Stocksdale has always focused on creating individual bowls which best display the unusual grains and colors of exotic woods."
Then, this morning I read on another woodturning forum about the passing of Frank Sudol. Until reading about his death I have to admit I'd never heard of him. But there was a quote from him that was really good, "The message for my students is you will never be remembered for what you copied, but you will be remembered for what you created ... Once you reach inside, you will have original work."
It's pretty interesting to me when I find out how inspirational some of these great artist and turners are not just in their work but in their thinking too.
Anyway, if you get a chance to thumb through Contemporary Turned Wood it's worth the time.