Flame

Oak, 51" tall

Santa Clara, CA

The log from which I sculpted this piece was actually a barrel shape, the hollow trunk of a massive oak that was more than 4 feet in diameter. The wood was 2-4” thick and already sawn into chunks by the arborist. But the “slabs” were nearly 5 ft long, and this one was particularly interesting because of the hole near the base. This hole was formed by the decay of a branch, either removed by nature or humans. The decay and weakening of the main trunk may have started at this entry point. It was obvious that the hole would be the focal point of this piece, with interesting grain to be exposed on both the outside and inside surfaces of the sculpture. The grain around the hole is similar to burl wood, an often twisting and intergrown grain as the cambium grows rapidly to close a wound to the tree. On the "inside," I left remnants of the dark staining often seen with decay in a pattern that could represent the different temperature regions of a flame.

As in many of my sculptures, I was tempted to leave parts of the surfaces rough-carved, but in the end opted to polish all surfaces to enhance the appearance of all the exposed wood grain.