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in

My search for Acceptance

- or -

when did the world's idea of art cease being about beautiful works.

Having the expertise isn't the same as finding a voice. No doubt if I had thought of the phrase “In Celebration of Wood” at this early stage of our new venture I might have stumbled on my voice earlier than I did.

What actually happened was an early burst of pre-designed “stealing” made almost entirely of quilt patterns I found on the web. The benefit of doing this was simple; quick starting without any issue of designing. This enabled lots of quick, early decisions such as, the best substrate, the best compensator, the level of finishing, practice with shading, methods for hanging and even how to take photos of this kind of art (The process turned out to be quite simple by the way: Outdoors, bright sun, about 10 to 11AM is the correct angle to prevent hot spots of reflection and still minimize shadows. No manner of lighting comes close to representing the fire and depth of wood grain and color brought out by bright sunlight.)

This process continued through the following steps

Quilts & other graphic patterns,

Whimsy,

Scenes,

Homages,

Abstracts.

QUILTS:

A very early quilt pattern titled “PA Deutsch” which sold in our first ever show.

This early period of re-creating rote work brought to the fore some of the assets of my earlier career, primary of which are patience and organization. Maintaining consistency in the grain and nap orientation of each similar piece of veneer is the major controller of a blended composition. All of the characteristics of wood that only show up clearly in the finishing process are critical to successful graphic marquetry. Indeed, the viewer's experience of the finished piece is massively influenced by the way light hits the wood.

This period also taught me the importance of another of my design principles perfected during my cabinetmaking career – natural wood colors are better than any stain. The three major detail woods in “PA Deutsch” were Quartered White Ash, Quartered Cherry and Quartered Sapele. The matte surround is Lacewood for its unifying color relationship with the three major details. The hardwood frame is Sapele.

GRAPHICS:

You can't do as much mechanical drawing as I have done without being fascinated by graphic design and patterns. Adapting geometry to wood art was my next sidetrack.

"Eye Isometric"

"Floating Grid"

These two pieces are both compositions that attempted to explore this short-term side track in the evolution of our voice. While they adhere to the disciplines of fine woodworking and the strictures of wood grain and nap, their graphic simplicity is only semi-interesting. The four-piece-match of Brazilian Rosewood in “Eye Isometric” is effective and stark, but not very intriguing. The continuity of the little Cherry squares laid sequentially and continuous in each row and then apparently “floating” on a 15 degree bias laid four-piece-match of Zebrano, again, is effective but not very intriguing.

Nothing moves in a single direction and I would as time progressed return to this familiar (may I say comfortable) style many times before acceding to our eventual discovery of “In Celebration of Wood.”

WHIMSY:

About this time we explored whimsy as a compositional tool. One of the many interesting things about doing “whimsical” pieces is the contradiction that arises when working in a medium like wood. In it's rough stages or condition wood objects tend to be inexpensive and kind of gift-like. In its finer finished condition it tends to be more formal and expensive appearing.

"Anxious Boatman"

This piece is titled “Anxious Boatman.” The background serving as a “chocolate” river (as a very young viewer called it) is a single piece of Brazilian Rosewood stepped down at both ends to escape under and out of its floating Zebrano frame. Again an effective piece given it's genre and it exhibited the beginnings of “In Celebration of Wood” simply by making novel use of an “eyeball” figure in some rare Brazilian Rosewood I have been hoarding for quite some time. But the whimsy of the design distracted us from discovery of our voice as did its virtually instant sale in its (and our) very first show.

Another two steps forward in the too slow process of finding our voice.

BTW: Any and all of these pieces can be seen on our website  http://www.robertbruceweston.com/