Elephant Walk

Tree: Walnut, Snowshoe, PA

Dimensions: 30" tall

The crotch log for this sculpture came from the same tree as "Phoenix," donated to me by a stranger from Snowshoe, PA in exchange for my help in removing the ailing tree from next to his house. There was noticeable decay at the end of one side of the crotch, so, to play it safe, I planned larger window openings in the flutes to accommodate any gaps caused by the decay. As a result, the flutes are relatively wider, and the openings on either side of the feather grain between the trunks are narrower than on "Phoenix."

When I rough-cut the flutes, I did indeed find a significant amount of decay on one side, but the window design worked out very well. When I made the initial cuts between the flutes, I was in for one of those wonderful surprises: buried beneath the bark and maybe ten years of growth was the stub of a dead "stick" in the middle of the crotch. It was nearly completely decayed, and when I picked out the dead wood, I found a deep cavity. It was a matter of continuing to carve inward from the three other sides of the crotch until I reached that central cavity to form four windows. Perhaps the most interesting grain patterns can be seen at the back surface of the flutes, where that "stick" caused bark to be trapped in the incompletely knitted grain.

The completed sculpture is characterized by a natural edge that wraps around the entire sculpture, encompassing both flutes and the two lower bridges that link them together. A pair of secondary "ribs" curve past the cavities and "dive" through the lower bridge and exits as an alternative support. With the openings in the middle of the cavities, the wide flutes, and the "rib" extending to the base, the overall appearance resembles back-to-back elephant faces, hence the title.