Artist’s Statement

The work I am doing now is a culmination of my years working as a woodworker and a life long love of drawing and sculpting the human form.  I have always been attracted to the beauty, subtleties and strength of the human form.

Often I will see reminders of family and friends in my work. The faces in my work are influenced by art from widely divergent cultures but most often come from my imagination.   What happens if you cut apart a face and reassemble it, or draw on it, glue pieces of wood atop pieces of wood, or write a story on it?  An idea may spring up from an abandoned piece of wood, a piece of hardware or a part of a toy.

I have been teaching woodcarving for 26 years.  Teaching is an important part of my creative process.  I love to look at a piece of wood and try to help someone “see” what might be inside or to take an idea for an image and then figure out how to help make that image a reality.

The process of carving and sculpting the wood is my meditation.  As I work on a piece sometimes I must let the wood guide me, surprising me with what lies beneath the surface and other times I force my will on a resistant material.

-Sheri