Artist’s Bio
During my childhood in West Michigan, my family spent a good deal of time in the woods–camping, hiking, playing, and gathering wood to heat our home. Those woodland experiences led me to appreciate the practical usefulness of wood as well as the aesthetic appeal of the various grains, textures, colors, and patterns.
A few years ago, while splitting wood to heat our home near Crawfordsville, I encountered a few pieces of particularly pretty wood. I decided to sculpt them into simple cooking spatulas to give as gifts that Christmas. After several months of experimenting with additional utensil designs and refining my process, I eventually felt some pieces were worthy of being sold.
I enjoy crafting pieces that highlight the natural beauty of the wood but are also able to stand up to years of use. Although utensils are my main focus, I also produce vases and earrings–sometimes from scraps produced in the utensil-production process and sometimes from wood that wouldn’t work well for utensils. With these items, too, my goal is to reveal the natural beauty of the wood in the simplest manner possible. Almost all of my pieces are produced through the removal of wood, with no glue-ups or assembly.
The majority of my wood comes from fallen and storm-damaged trees near our house on my wife’s family farmland, but some also comes from friends who call when a tree falls down or has to be removed. When I do purchase wood, it comes from suppliers selling native hardwoods harvested in central Indiana.
