Artist Statement
I have always felt a passion for things made of wood. It is
so much part of our life here on the west coast; our houses
are made of it, there are forests all around us, and so much
of our economy is based on it. Many evenings I can step outside
my house and smell Yellow Cedar being milled somewhere along
the Fraser River. Wood has life that extends beyond the tree.
I see woodturning as an opportunity to put my passion for wood
into objects that show the beauty of this material in forms
that cross the boundaries of art mediums: wood as sculpture,
wood as pottery, and wood as glass.
My work includes strictly art pieces and functional art objects.
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Celestial
Harmony
Maple
11 X 21 X 3 inches |
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Looking
to the Heaven
Maple
11 X 21 X 3 inches |
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Whispering
Wheat
Maple
11 X 21 X 3 inches |
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City
Heat
Maple
11 X 21 X 3 inches |
Biography
Larry's involvement in woodturning began in Victoria during the
70's as part of a project to make a bedroom suite. With a used
lathe and a basic box of tools he naively set out to turn a set
of posts for a waterbed suite, teaching himself along the way
by reading books and a basic instruction manual. Larry experienced
the frustration of learning the technique of turning wood, but
what stands out in his memory is that he loved the process of
sculpting something out of a piece of wood. Feeling limited by
laminated dimensional lumber and looking for different material
to work with, he discovered a piece a figured poplar while gathering
firewood. Larry remembers, "I just couldn't bring myself to burn
it in the fireplace and decided to have a go at it with the lathe.
This new source of wood opened up endless possibilities and the
wood's figures and grain patterns, which are not normally found
in dimensional lumber, turned out to be a dream to work with."
Larry moved to Burnaby as a result of a career change, and while
he settled into his new job, got married, and started a family,
woodturning was relegated to the back burner. Fate intervened
through a chance meeting at a local tool store when someone told
Larry that a local woodturning guild was being formed. Larry's
passion for woodturning was re-ignited when he joined this new
guild, and he has been a member of the Greater Vancouver Woodturners
Guild ever since; currently serving as vice-president on its executive
committee.
Larry's recent work reflects his interest in other forms of art
such as pottery, blown glass, and sculptural forms and he says,
"Working with different textures and colours has been fascinating
to me as I try to create a piece in wood that may be thought of
as belonging to a different medium. I finish some pieces to a
high gloss until it has a glass-like appearance and other pieces
are finished to look aged or weathered. Combining wood with other
materials has provided me with creative new ideas for future pieces."
Larry's ongoing pursuit of this art form has led him to participate
in gallery showings, and his work can be seen at various galleries
in the Greater Vancouver region as well as Kelowna and Edmonton.
His profile was featured in the Jan/Feb/Mar 2004 issue of Craft
Contacts, a publication published by the Craft Association of
British Columbia. Larry has also entered the West Coast Woodturning
Completion for several years and in October 2004, was awarded
the "Judges Award of Merit" for his piece "How Fragile We Are."
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Laburnum
Ball Vase 701
5 inches round |
Laburnum
Ball Vase 702
5 inches round |
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Reverence
Vase
Cedar and Soapstone
6 X 12 X 12 inches |
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Vase
710
Dyed Maple
6 X 6 X 6 inches |
Vase
708
Dyed Maple
6 X 6 X 6 inches |
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Vase
Fiddleback Maple
5 X 6 X 6 inches |
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