Wood Sculpture Techniques at the Portland Japanese Garden

My art tells stories, my collaborator is wood. In my current series, I recycle construction debris, coaxing these manufactured shapes into revealing their natural irregularities. I work with cross-sections of wood and pay special attention to the grain and texture. With certain wood sculpture techniques, the history of the tree becomes an integral part of the finished sculpture. While looking at the art you can see the passage of time because each line is one year of growth.

Japanese Technique in Wood Sculpture

Major influences on my wood sculpture are the Japanese monk, Enku, and the Taiwanese artist Ju Ming. Both influenced my work with their direct approach to carving. 

Enkū (円空) (1632–1695) was a Japanese Buddhist monk, poet, and sculptor during the early Edo period. He was born in Mino Province (present-day Gifu Prefecture) and is famous for carving some 120,000 wooden statues of the Buddha and other Buddhist icons. He used his art as devotional objects, giving them away, and to pay for lodging on his pilgrimages to temples throughout Japan.

I will be carving small figures in the style of Enkū and showing recent sculptures.

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