art

There Is A Season

Geometry of the Wounded Savior

This grisaille (grayscale underpainting) of the interaction of Thomas and Jesus and the gathered disciples and their community, has been slowly developing over the past three years, the drawing took about two years before that. I feel like the end of this particular phase is finally in sight on the distant horizon. I look forward to seeing the structure fully unfold and ultimately to the beginning the glazing of colors.

The Flow of Art in Life

This Dirt Is Older Than I, or Elizabeth Duffy’s Witness

Nigh on two years ago I received an email from Elizabeth Duffy, a writer from Indiana, wanting to ask me a few questions about my art for her blog at Patheos. She sent questions and I sent back my answers. It went on for three or four months like that, and trust was built. In the end she shared our interview in four parts on her blog. Meanwhile Elizabeth felt the fruit of our dialogue merited a wider audience, and she went in quest. Image Journal took the bet, and Elizabeth went to work.

I owe a debt to Elizabeth, but not necessarily for publishing an article about me in a magazine, although, that too is cool, and I expect that the measure of artistic validation it lends me is not insignificant. It is for her time and her witness that I am grateful, it is for her trustworthiness. I suspect most artists wonder, like me, if all the labor and turmoil that goes into making art, which purports to have emerged from a deep place in the created heart, is not the dead end of futility that it so often seems to be. I know at least that it matters to Elizabeth, so much so that she built a soap box and voiced it to as large an audience as she could muster. More sacred, she proved her trust with those treasures in my heart which I was able to share with her. That carries weight. Thank you Elizabeth. You came along side me and we plowed together. We even made the cover.

You can read the article online if you wish, or even buy the whole journal it here.

With genuine authenticity (I know it’s redundant) and authentic hunger, Elizabeth writes for a variety of different outlets, including Image Journal’s blog, Good Letters. The best place to start and catch most of it, is at her personal blog.

Various Light

The Champion Table

After about five months the Champion Table is finished and in its new home outside of Chicago. The woods in this table are Kansas Black Walnut and White Oak (the base uses oak from Kansas, the top uses oak of lesser known origin, beyond my friend, the lumber man), the top features also a small amount of Ebony and sulfur. The design is original, and evolved throughout the building process. Central, is a crucifixion theme and the arc. There are other symbolic elements as well, throughout. I am deeply grateful to the Champion family for the opportunity to build a significant piece of furniture for their home and living. I am also humbled and thankful for all the encouragement I have received throughout the building process. Ultimately I am glad in my heart, laboring to make something that celebrates the goodness of God.

Champion Table Build, Part 4: Base & Arc

preparing to fit the base to the leg assembly

defining a semicircle with 3 saw cuts

3 saw cuts get refined into facets with a paring chisel

and again

then shaped with a rasp

the base of one of the leg assemblies after the 1/2 lap-tapered dado has been cut

here, mated with the white oak leg

a different piece of white oak being shaped with a rasp, one of three slats joining the top of the leg assemblies together and to the table top

the slats also receive a long bevel

the slats will rest in the notches being cut into the top of this leg section

clearing out material from the notch with a 1″ chisel

establishing the final depth with a router plane

here the slats are temporarily in place

an arsenal of shaping tools to begin sculpting the legs

shaping inside-curves of the leg assembly with an aggressive rasp

forming a radius where the legs meet the base

the preliminary drawings had a horizontal stretcher connecting the two leg assemblies at floor level. Having rough-shaped the components and taking a look, I started visualizing an arc instead. PVC pipe (already bent from a previous life in some low garden tunnels) offered a quick prototype to help see how it would look.

the arc made sense, so now setting about squaring up a white oak timber for re-sawing

re-sawn white oak and a glue-lamination form ready to make an arc

the glue lamination in the form- my 8 year old son was indispensable in this process, helping to roll glue, assemble, and clamp

rhythm is in unity to woodwork

the white oak timber, reconfigured as a messy arc

work for the jack plane

now the smoothing plane

cutting the tapers along the length of the arc at the band saw

marking the taper at the width

cutting the taper at the width

more elbow grease with the smoothing plane

shaping the many curves and facets along the arc, first with a drawknife

then with spokeshave

establishing details with knife

facets ease into curves

test fitting- some refining-shaping to go yet

setting the location of the chamfers on the leg-base

shaving away rasp markings

carving corner transitions

so many details to bring together- here the leg base is about done.

That’s it for this round- next week there will be lots of sanding, also carving and inlay work as the table finally starts to become unified. Thank you to everyone for following along, and for your encouraging comments.

Holy, the Lesser Saints

the lesser saints

weave their quiet

agile stories

amongst the lives

of greater lights

holy, the lesser saints

the color

upon their brows

they do not cry out

they do not turn

hearts raised like rafters

heavenward

forever orbiting

tireless in quest

the sphere of your glory

to enter and remain

bring newer life

from ancient tribes

all in anticipation

groaning in the yearning

their own eternal ribbon voice

those who have ears…

let them hear

holy, the lesser saints

bring your longing

bring your capacity

for fullness

in the life of the soil

countless prophets

behold and know

see and have understanding

awaken, members of wholeness

you are provision

you are appointed

little lights, you are His

lesser saints

holding up mountains

echoes of distant voice

priests of the eternal present

fierce and strange

are the quiet ones

in silent witness

givers of the heart of God

receiving and giving from the heart of God

celebrating mystery in plain-ness

in infinite variety and order

teach the spiritual truths of rest and labor

sweat and awe

all from silent knees and horns

in the unending world, glory will be known forever

Commerce

Workshop, Studio & Land

commerce01

A slew of recent additions to our Etsy storefront are pictured below. There are prints, bowls, handmade goat milk soap with free shipping and a few paintings, even. Please click on the green BaumWerk sign immediately below to visit the store. Thank you!