OLD OAK

SCULPTURES USING OLD OAK

Why is oak special?

It is probably the best known English hardwood. In the right conditions it lasts for centuries and becomes harder and harder. One can scrape out the soft wood in an apparently rotten post and the hard wood remains with all its twisting beauty.

JUST THINKING

The video shown here takes two minutes.
I found this oak root in a local wood.
It was buried in wood debris, probably for decades.
I took it home and left it for months to dry out in an open shed.
Was it so rotten that it should be returned to its long useful decay?
Or could it be resurrected to a new existence?
An initial scraping away revealed a hard core worth inspecting.
It became an exploration like entering a bombed city,
falling into cellars,finding skeletons, opening casements.
It was also like being a dental hygienist faced with a drawer of rotting teeth.

Oak can make a good base for a bronze sculpture

Sudanese Man

This small bronze is in an edition of 100. It was made after living in South Darfur.
It is mounted on a piece of cats'paw oak

Living in an Aquarium

Bronze figures, an edition of 10, all mounted differently, 24cm tall. 3 left.

Diving

Bronze in an edition of 10, 17cm tall. To see it mounted on slate click
HERE

From debris to a new existence

Heavy but a promising find

The bulk of this is 150cm long not including the extended section. It could have lain here for many decades. Who can carry it?

Grandchildren working from home.

Transformation

Many weeks later, dried, jet- hosed and scraped, the hollow trunk is ready.

Hidden in a willow tree

Click HEThe Seven Ages of ManRE to see how this ancient trunk now tells another story.