Wood is one of nature’s most universally useful materials. It has stoked the campfires from early man to modern times and through our ingenuity has provided us with shelter, furniture and tools.  Not surprisingly, it has also been used to create objects of art. Through the ages, artists have created sculptures and relief carvings in wood that have come to reflect the story of mankind and reveal the soul of our creative energy as a species.

Today, artists continue to use wood as an art form in a myriad of ways.  Some incorporate technological innovation onto or within their wood pieces, while others reflect on the wood’s inherent natural qualities as an integral part of the piece. Our exhibition, Wood Work, showcases the work of almost 50 contemporary artists who use wood as a means of expressing our current cultural moment.

Wood sculpture, paintings on wood and turned wood are the three dominant art forms included in this exhibition.  Many of the artists paint, scorch or scratch into wood panels, utilizing the grain of the wood as part of the image. Some artists' wood pieces are dynamically carved into figurative or abstract sculptures, while others are assembled from a variety of repurposed woods. Woodturners have skillfully transformed what was once considered craft into high art.  Their minimalist vessel forms, produced on lathes, reveal the natural striations in the wood in such a way that the beauty of the wood itself becomes the work of art.

- Marianne B. Lambert and Anne Lambert Tracht, Co-Curators