Box elder on alligator juniper

After creating vessels and sculptures in clay, especially naked raku, for 35 years i had my first introduction to wood turning in 2004 on my annual summer visit to glenwood, New Mexico. Each subsequent summer i anticipated returning and attempting to get my mind around a “subtractive art from” after spending most of my life participating in an “additive one.” Since my ceramic forms were all closed spheroid shapes, all i wanted to do was replicate the same, while using the texture, the natural attributes, (voids, cracks, insect detritus, rot, etc) of this new and wonderful material. In clay i used the trapped air inside the totally closed vessels to alter the form from the symmetrical. So it was obvious to me that the negative space within each piece of wood should determine its outer form. Since there isn’t a gila national forest in London, G.B (my home), all my work is done in glenwood, New Mexico where i have access to a vast variety of wood and a community that leaves gifts of various type of wood. My profile pic indicates my attitude to health and safety

- kenny behr menczer