Wings (Sold)

Oak, 20" tall

Santa Clara, CA

The arborist log was fairly short but contained the crotch between two major trunks. What I did not know was that the grain of the two trunks would be so different. The other hidden feature was the “included” bark, a term for bark that is trapped as cambium, and finally sapwood grows around segments of bark. A signature feature of my sculptures is a natural edge around most of the piece, which is a combination of bark, cambium, or the sapwood just below the cambium.   

A surprising behavior of this sculpture was the opening and subsequent closing of cracks along the outside edge of the wider wing as the wood continued to season. I have learned to retain cracked regions of my sculpted logs, often highlighting them in the final sculpture shape if they seem to fit aesthetically, since the internal stresses and behavior on drying are part of the tree’s legacy.