Beyond Wood

04/07/2026

https://vimeo.com/127202481?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

Narrated by Ray Leier

09/18/2022

12/13/2021

Jack Slentz
My work has the appearance of being rather raw and primitive, its beauty comes from the purity and simplicity of form that is emphasized by showing the mark of the tool. The ideas for my artwork come from every day objects, things that we notice and take for granted. Some of the everyday forms I use, as points of departure, are manhole covers, storm grates, and seedpods. Other images I draw inspiration from are spears, shields, masks, and primitive tools. Their forms and surfaces have a repetition that creates a sense of rhythm and movement. These repetitive forms, patterns, and textures move me in a very contemplative, and spiritual way. I draw influence from these objects, and my work is an abstraction of them allowing the viewer to use their imagination and respond from a gut level.

A number of the pieces I make represent a duality or struggle within the self where one can be loving, caring, and nurturing and at the same time mean, hateful, and destructive. This reflects the love, hate dichotomy, which is the backbone of much of my work. As one of my collectors once said, "your work has a sort of -- from hell and back quality", which I agree is my visual representation of life's struggle.

08/27/2021

ALAIN MAILLAND
Alain Mailland was born on the Ivory Coast and moved with his family back to France when he was five years old. From age twenty to twenty-two, he studied at the National Art School of Cergy-Pontoise . After an internship, he started by turning and selling bowls and vases. However, one day he had the idea to create flowers out of wood, and from there, little by little, he developed a unique technique of carving and sculpting wood into delicate yet spectacular forms inspired by nature.
Alain turns green (wet) wood, then leaves it to dry before sculpting it. This process can take a few years. He developed special tools to turn wood flowers and other natural forms
“All my work is based on the beauty of wood.
I mainly use precious roots and species from the South of France.
There is a correspondence between all the species living on earth.
You can find animal or mineral shapes in roots and vegetable forms and in stone or bones.
We, humans, are linked with all things growing on the earth.
This is what I feel when I make my sculptures. These creatures seem to be alive, because I first turn growing shapes, like flower shapes.
I reproduce the expansion of a flower or all circular structures of the universe”
Narrated by Ray Leier

08/07/2021

JOHN JORDAN.
I’m John Jordan and I’ve been a woodturner for more than thirty years. I have done demonstrations for, or given hands-on lessons to, thousands of woodturners in most states in the US, as well as ten other countries. The turned and carved vessels I make are featured in numerous private and corporate collections, as well as the ​Public Collections of more than thirty museums. This includes seven pieces in the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution and the recent acquisition of two pieces by the prestigious Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Narrated by Ray Leier

07/29/2021

Rude Osolnik
Rude was widely admired as one of the finest wood turners in America and his workshops and seminars were in demand around the world.
His bowls and signature candlesticks are collector's items and his pieces are in the permanent collections of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Atlanta's High Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, The Yale Museum, The Speed Museum, The Kentucky History Museum, The Mayo Clinic, The Connell Gallery and many other fine institutions.
Narrated by Ray Leier

07/13/2021

Ray Allen (1930-2000)
Ray's work can be found in many of the finest private collections of contemporary woodturning as well as the permanent collections of the Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA and the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.
Narrated by Ray Leier

07/06/2021

Christian Burchard
His early focus was on furniture and interiors, but gradually shifted to woodturning and sculpture, moving between vessel oriented forms and sculptural turning. His work has been included in most of the major turning related exhibits of the last twenty something years and is exhibited widely throughout the US. His pieces are part of many public and private collections. His current work includes wall sculptures and freestanding sculptural objects. He currently resides with his wife at the outskirts of Ashland, Oregon.
Narrated by Ray Leier

06/27/2021

Ron Fleming
Ron Fleming grew up watching his father and grandfather work in wood and often crafted small items from natural materials such as feathers, hides and bones. He worked as an illustrator for forty years until a drawing of a rose inspired him to carve the shape from wood. Fleming's vessels take their asymmetrical shapes, varying textures, and play of light and shadow from nature.
He’s received many awards for his work including the Grand Prize in the 1991 American Crafts Awards. His most recent exhibitions took place at Arizona State University in Tempe, Oklahoma State University in Okmulgee, del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles and the Walter Arts Center in Tulsa. He is active in the American Association of Woodturners and the Wood Turning Center. White House Collection of American Crafts exhibition (Washington D.C.: National Museum of American Art,1995)
Narrated by Ray Leier

06/20/2021

GARY STEVENS
“When Gary Stevens tells his story, it is hard to grasp how he finds the time to do so much. There are only so many hours in a day, so many years in a life, and Gary seems to have filled them to the utmost. He admits to being “driven,” but in a way that shows he is proud of his achievements Gary Stevens has found a remarkable balance in his life. He makes it clear that what he calls his “day job” is as much a part of who he is as anything else, but it is made even more meaningful when it is measured against his other life as an artist. “For me working in the studio is a safe refuge from high stress. I’m still excited every time I start a new piece—the possibilities seem endless to me.” Terry Martin
Narrated by Ray Leier