Black Hole

Black Walnut, Menlo Park, CA

27” tall

I collected this log from a homeowner on my bike trip back from the dentist in exchange for making her a sculpted bowl. This log was from the top of the tree, where it had been pruned maybe 30 years before and from which several main branches had grown. I deduced this from the fact that the main trunk was rotted and partially hollow. Unfortunately, the arborist had cut this top piece of the tree into a short, squat log, with all the major branches cut close to the trunk. At the time, I was evolving my art from bowls to sculptures, so I painted the ends of the log to minimize cracking and let it dry in my woodpile for 6 years before starting this sculpture.