Tag: wood working

Ibis Coffin

Ibis Coffin, 305-33 BCE, Wood, Silver, Gold Leaf, Gesso, Rock Crystal, Animal Remains, Linen, Pigment, 19 x 8 x 22 Inches, Brooklyn Museum, New York

This Ptolemaic Period ibis coffin was probably from the Tuna el-Gebel area of Egypt.  The coffin is in the from of a standing figure of an ibis serving as container for mummified ibis; the wooden body of the coffin is entirely surface gilded. There is a resin covering the gilt in places which may be the remains of a varnish. The figure has a onventionalized tail indicated by black paint over the gilt and the top of its body is cut for a cover which runs entire length of body.

The figure’s head and feet is cast in silver; the eyes are of crystal outlined in gold. The head has an incised necklace at base of neck. The figure is mounted on an oblong wooden base, apparently original, of rough work. The mummified ibis lies within the figure’s body, in an intact condition.

Animal mummies were routinely placed in some type of container once the animal had been wrapped in linen. The more ordinary containers were specially designed or reused pottery jars. Such objects have been found by the tens of thousands in so-called animal cemeteries at a number of sites in Egypt.

At times elaborate coffins were crafted to hold the animal mummies. Just as human coffins were anthropoid, so animal coffins took the form of the animal contained. The ibis mummy held by this coffin was placed within through the detachable lid on the back. The gilding of the body and the exquisite detailing of the head, legs, and feet make this example one of the finest of its kind.

Lagunilla Figure

Lagunilla Figure of a Man, John Bourne Collection, Walters Art Museum

Lagunillas figures often portray men, usually in a seated position with elbows resting on bent knees and forearms crossed on top of each other. The torso leans forward, and the face gazes downward. This figure’s loins are wrapped in a relatively wide hip cloth of unadorned fabric. He wears a textile or plant fiber triple-strand band around his head, a forelock of hair falling below the band. His face is extensively painted with black designs, including masklike half circles around his eyes and whisker-like motifs extending outward from the corners of his mouth.

Yoshitoshi Kanemaki

Skeletal Sculptures by Yoshitoshi Kanemaki

Based out of Chiba Prefecture, Japanese sculptor Yoshitoshi Kanemaki carves life-size sculptures from camphor wood, but with a twist of mortality and transience. The disturbing pieces hinge often hinge on grotesque as the combination of the bulging weight and density of wood heightens the certainty of death that looms over all his creations.

Laura Bacon

Willow Sculptures by Laura Bacon

British Sculptor, Laura Ellen Bacon (born 1976) works raw materials into large-scale or ‘human-scale’ artworks, in both interior and landscape settings. Working with predominately natural materials and her bare hands, her works embrace, surround or engulf architectural and natural structures.

Her work has been described as ‘startling but beckoning’; ‘monumental yet intimate’; ‘frenzied yet calm’.  Laura’s particular use of materials emerges from a compulsive desire to work them into a formed space of some kind, using a language of materials that seems strangely familiar to the natural world.

“I began making my early works upon dry stone walls and evolved to work within trees, riverbanks and hedges, allowing the chosen structure (be it organic or man-made) to become host. I am still powerfully driven to create spaces of some kind and over a decade into my work, my passions continue to merge creatively with architecture.

The forms that I make have a closeness with their host structure or the fabric of a building; their oozing energy spills from gutters, their ‘muscular’ forms nuzzle up to the glass and their gripping weave locks onto the strength of the walls. Whilst the scale and impact varies from striking to subtle (sometimes only visible upon a quizzical double take), I relish the opportunity to let a building ‘feed’ the form, as if some part of the building is exhaling into the work.”

Robby Cuthbert

Works in Wood and Steel by Robby Cuthbert

“I ended up attending Williams College where I majored in Studio Art and Psychology. Within the art department, I was naturally drawn to the three-dimensional media of architecture and sculpture. What ensued was a sort of cross-pollination between the two media that led me to my current style and process.

Process is central to my work. Each project begins with a period of sketching followed by careful phases of planning, calculation and construction. While this process reflects my architectural interests, the forms I generate need not adhere to the rules of architecture. In this way, I employ a controlled method as a means of generating and exploring a variety of three-dimensional forms.

In my most recent work I generate architectural and organic forms, often with a hint of the fantastical or whimsical, that examine the role of tension in the storing and release of energy. With wood and wire as my primary materials, I have played with the suggestion of pent up energy held in check by opposing forces. Each piece maintains a state of potential energy that, if released, would result in a transformation of the work.” – Robby Cuthbert

Rush Pleansuk

Rush Pleansuk, “Genii Loci ”

Derived from a Roman word, “Genii Loci” refers to the protective spirit of a place and the name of an exhibition by Rush Pleansuk. He is an artist who translates and transforms the Asian tradition and Thai belief that spirits are believed to be protectors of the living into contemporary creation.

The construction and identification of a certain object as a place where the ‘spirit’ resides is deeply rooted within Eastern culture. Pleansuk’s intricately interwoven art of furniture design, where the abstract is made tangible, passes that tradition onto the present generation.

Willy Verginer

Figurative Wood Sculptures by Willy Verginer

Currently living and working in the idyllic town of Urtijëi, Italy, sculptor Willy Verginer shares a closeness with his environment in both technique and concept. His surreal wooden sculptures are carved from a single linden tree trunk with incredible precision and detail. Although their features are classical, Verginer paints bold stripes of color across his figures and poses them in awkward positions, making them completely contemporary. He’s often paired his figures of women, men, and young children with other animals and objects that don’t fit together.

His most  pieces at his June 2015 show, which were on view at Galerie Van Campen & Rochtus in Belgium, paired them with oil barrels. The gray or metallic color of the barrels transfer to the person or animal they are touching, forming a connection between natural and unnatural. Verginer calls this an act of “aggression,” representing mankind’s pollution of the world around him. As in his sculpture of a fawn, “Between idyllic and reality” (Tra idillico e realta), Verginer also introduces elements like a scaled down landscape or trees. By making something as grand as a forest small in size, the artist points to its fragility and pleas to his viewers to protect it.

Garuda

Bayan Gandung, “White Garuda Mask”, Indonesia

Garuda is the vahana, or the carrier, of Lord Vishnu. Garuda is depicted as having the golden body of a strong man with a white face, red wings, and an eagle’s beak and with a crown on his head. He was said to be massive, large enough to block out the sun.

His stature in Hindu religion can be gauged by the fact that a dependent Upanishad, the Garudopanishad, and a Purana, the Garuda Purana, is devoted to him. Various names have been attributed to Garuda – Chirada, Gaganeshvara, Kamayusha, Kashyapi, Khageshvara, Nagantaka, Sitanana, Sudhahara, Suparna, Tarkshya, Vainateya, Vishnuratha and others. The Vedas provide the earliest reference of Garuda, though by the name of Śyena, where this mighty bird is said to have brought nectar to earth from heaven.

However, the interesting thing is that Garuda is the Sankarshna form of the lord who during creation primarily possesses the knowledge aspect of the lord (among Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha forms). The important point is that Garuda represents the five vayus within us : prana, apana, vyana, udana, samana through his five forms Satya, Suparna, Garuda, Tarkshya, Vihageshwara. These five vayus through yoga can be controlled through Pranayama which can lead to Kundalini awakening leading to higher levels of consciousness.

Thanks to http://www.worldtribalmasks.com

James Doran-Webb

Dragons from the Woods: Sculptures by James Doran-Webb

James Doran-Webb, 46, is a Birmingham, England-based master craftsman. He has been all over the web for his breathtaking ‘galloping horse sculptures’ made from driftwood. James has been playing with wood since his childhood. However, it was since 2000s that he begun to explore various forms of nature. Now, he has appeared with two stunning dragon sculptures in his collection of life-size animal sculptures made from driftwood.

Perched on a dead tree sits ‘The Wyvern in the Baobabs’ – the first dragon. The ‘Wyvern’s Folly’ – the second dragon- is perched on a gazebo. The wings, nails, teeth, and gesture, everything is given extensive details. The gazebo is made from reclaimed steel and recycled water bottles.

James McNabb, “Empty Kingdom”

James McNabb, “Empty Kingdom”, Scrap Wood Citiscapes

James McNabb‘s “City Series” is a collection of wood sculptures that represent a woodworker’s journey from the suburbs to the city. Each piece depicts the outsider’s perspective of the urban landscape. Made entirely of scrap wood, this work is an interpretation of making something out of nothing. Each piece is cut intuitively on a band saw. The result is a collection of architectural forms, each distinctly different from the next.