Sculptures by JMikk

Jansson Sculpture

White Oak, Warriors Mark, PA

My cousins had an arborist cut down a large damaged white oak tree which was next to their cabin at the family's tree farm.  Although it had been decaying on the ground for several years, I thought that the trunk still had some sound wood worth sculpting; so I agreed to produce a large sculpture for their cabin.

Of course there was significant decay, especially through a large opening which had been caused by a broken-off limb many years in the past.  About 4 feet above this opening was a fork, or crotch, between two major branches.  I designed this sculpture to highlight these two features and to leave a "shelf" that retained the sense of the size of the tree.  I proceeded slowly with my chainsaw, stopping to partially finish the new surfaces in order to examine the grain and how it flowed around the sculpture.  I wanted a sculpture that retained as much grain figure as possible while at the same time did not appear too "heavy".

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