to love is to save January 16, 2012- May 15, 2012

In 2012 I was asked to take part in an exhibition where artists were given a portion of a Poplar tree that stood next to Wharton Esherick's studio.

As a continuation on the themes/concepts I was working on at the time under "abstract anatomy" I designed and carved TO LOVE IS TO SAVE over a 5-month period

Wharton Esherick  is known as one of the pioneering craftspeople of the 20th century. He elevated furniture to an art level creating his own unique style of furniture, sculpture, wood prints, architecture etc. His work is seen as the beginning of what is known as studio furniture now, finely crafted typically functional expressive furniture. His beautiful, completely hand detailed home and studio are open for tours in the Valley Forge area.

A large beloved Poplar tree that stood next to his studio had to be taken down. The Esherick  Museum gave the tree new life by giving the kiln dried lumber to 42 artists. It was great to see such of a variety of work from one tree, a complete spectrum from traditional furniture to sculpture.

making the piece:

My first idea was to make a large seesaw so I asked for two flitches (rough slabs of wood) . During this time period I was doing a bunch of experimental carvings incorporating concepts from anatomy, jazz/improvisation and composition, science, nature, love, silliness, dreams, abstract, fractals, math, spirituality, graffiti etc....

The more I thought about the piece  the more I wanted to do a large experimental wall relief.

 to love is to save tells the story of life ... the protective pulse, energy, celebration, fertility, unity, creation, existence, home, comfort and the afterlife.

flitches at Esherick museum

Sometimes it can be scary to take a risk instead of making something clean and understandable but I also feel that it's important as an artist to let go and reach for something bigger. I gain a ton of inspiration and drive from the spirit of people like John Coltrane that were fierce about pushing their vision and ideas. 

Early on in the sketching process I came up with the title "to love is to save" which gave me a design direction.

Love is such an immense power source that seems to get lost in the day-to-day thing. It is very easy to forget purpose in life, but I do feel it's important to use our power of love more often than we do.

I had been wanting to do a time lapse of the creation a piece and thought this would be a perfect opportunity. I also wanted music over the time lapse that represented the feel of the work.

I was fortunate to have Ben Schachter lend his song A Giant Among Us to the time lapse and can't imagine anything in its place when I watch the video. The song is full of twists and turns, power and flow. the video can be seen on link below

to love is to save Poplar Culture : The Celebration of a Tree

I spent about 5 months designing and hand carving the piece as well as editing the pictures I took to make the time lapse. It was a super busy time in my life as I was working full time, making this piece as well as creating the first run of 21 beer racks for Dogfish Head so it was pretty much 6 am to 11:30pm juggling act every day trying to get all done. I was literally applying the clearcoat the morning the piece was due as it consumed so much time.

It was the largest piece I worked on at 5 foot 8 inches by 21 inches.