Jansson Sculpture

White Oak, Warrior's Mark, PA

My cousins had an arborist cut down a large, damaged white oak tree that 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 that had been caused by a broken limb many years ago. 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 not appearing too "heavy."