Woodworking artist

[BillyJack]

What does this mean?

 

Does this mean you create from scratch something from nothing? 
 

Does this mean you copy other creations?

 

In my opinion… It’s creating and building it in dreams or thoughts. I often build tables from what I think and apply it to wood. Sometimes it’s too hard and II eliminate it from from thought. Sometimes I lose interest and walk away. 
 

Sometimes I’ve built to pay bills and sometimes I build to challenge my dreams. I spend many of hours tossing in bed over ideas.

[Ron Dudelston]

Artistry, whether woodworking, sculpting or any other art form is truly in the eyes of the beholder.  Though Picasso isn’t to my personal  taste I recognize that many do value his style and may not care for mine.  As long as there are individuals with different tastes and precepts art forms will take on different meanings.   There’s enough wiggle room for everyone to be seated at the table.

[BillyJack]

It’s like printing on veneer, nothing new , but applying to a project is another. Not many doing it..

 

Edited March 18 by BillyJack

[lew]

@BillyJack, please use tags when creating new posts

[BillyJack]

2 minutes ago, lew said:

@BillyJack, please use tags when creating new posts

What’s a tag? Searching Theres is a “add tag” is this it?

Edited March 18 by BillyJack

[lew]

Yes

[lew]

@BillyJack  Please see this tutorial-

 

 

[BillyJack]

I like that. Didn’t know this till you mentioned this. Thx….

[4DThinker]

Among well known furniture designers there are artists who to seem to design for the look/reaction/ it'll get rather than the simple critical functionality.  I tend toward the latter, but have on occasion gotten the most/best reactions from the simple details that made the design work.  Like the hook in an otherwise straight leg that was critical to allow the design to fold up neatly flat.  

[BillyJack]

When you build something it has to be yours. Many require plans to find projects. 
 

 You have to build from imagination..

Edited March 21 by BillyJack

[John Morris]

I've thought about this subject before "what is art". It goes along with "what is an original thought". 

I have to think that if in order to qualify for something created by us to be art, that it has to be a truly original and unique creation from our minds, then there isn't such a thing as art in that sense.

 

None of us have truly original thoughts, or creations, none of us were born in a vacuum then by some miracle we have thoughts of our own and ideas that originate from nothing. I really believe we are all products of our environment (setting aside for this discussion I believe we are special unique creations of God, He knew us before we knew ourselves and he imprinted our lives before we were born, though through our own faults and free will we seem to screw a lot of things up) and within that environment we grow our skills (woodworking and other art forms) by the influence of greats before us and living among us. I can't remember seeing the work of any woodworker and thinking wow, I have never ever in my entire life seen anything like that. Because the work is always influenced by others, they had mentors, they had teachers, our favorite woodworkers from history, Thomas Chippendale, Gustav Stickley, George Nakashima, Sam Maloof, James Krenov, Willie Sundqvist and his son Jögge Sundqvist, Tage Frid, etc, etc, etc. 

None of those aforementioned as wonderful as their work is and was, none of those men would say they created their designs completely from a unique thought or philosophy. I've read about some of those ground breaking pioneers in style, and they'll tell you they did not do it alone. Maloof, drew his style heavily from the Scandinavian and Danish furniture builders and the Danish Modern builders and stylists. Gustav Stickley refined his style from the Art Nouveau stylists of his time. The Sundqvist men simply carried the tradition of their Scandinavian ancestors into modern times with their green woodworking, carvings and unique painted furnishings.

 

I think one of the best examples I can think of to support what I am thinking, is this. A painter, who is a "realist" paints for the most part, exactly what they are seeing in real life. Sometimes nearly to the point of their painting looking like a photograph. Their painting is not unique, as a matter of fact their painting is a copy of what is right before their eyes.

 

Artist David Baker, paints a girl, a boy, in a boat, as it was in front of him on that day in a field of grass. Sure he is skilled, he is a wonderful painter, but he might be the first to tell you this was not a unique thought or vision regarding this painting, it was created for him before he dipped his brush in oil. Yet, nobody would dare say he is not an artist, he is an artist in every sense of the word.

 

 

Just like many of us woodworkers build in the same manner others have built before us. I'd never call myself an artist, but when people have seen some of the chairs I have made, one of the first things they say is "Wow, what a piece of art you made John!". And I humbly tell them naw, it's been done a million times before, by more talented folks than me". But they insist it's art. Ok, if you say so.  

 

Personally I'm nothing more than a woodworker in my world. It brings joy to me when I do it, and others when they use or view what I made. If they want to call it art, I'll say thank you. Then after they leave I'll go in my shop, and open a book and look for more things to copy. 

Great subject Jack.

[Headhunter]

47 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Then after they leave I'll go in my shop, and open a book and look for more things to copy. 

 

Great post, John. But, you put in one word in error. 

 

It's not 'copy', it's INTERPRET.

 

It will be YOUR interpretation of what you see. And so much the better for it.

[John Morris]

1 minute ago, Headhunter said:

It's not 'copy', it's INTERPRET.

 

It will be YOUR interpretation of what you see. And so much the better for it.

I like that.

You are kinder to me than I am to myself  

[lew]

7 hours ago, BillyJack said:

You have to build from imagination..

 

but, isn't your imagination influenced by the sights and sounds you have experienced as you go through life? I see a turning, done by another person, and think "I can do that", but, I think I'll change the shape, color or embellishment to suit my taste. I see a pen, made with a Celtic Knot design and then apply the idea to a completely different object. I think all artists use their experiences to create something unique unto themselves. As their experiences accumulate, their visions change.

 

This is an example of what I mean

 

Picasso early self portrait on the left and then the self portrait  later in life.

[John Morris]

20 minutes ago, Headhunter said:

It will be YOUR interpretation of what you see. And so much the better for it.

 

4 minutes ago, lew said:

but, isn't your imagination influenced by the sights and sounds you have experienced as you go through life?

That was exactly my point Lew. And more to what Headhunter said as well in quote above.  

 

5 minutes ago, lew said:

I think all artists use their experiences to create something unique unto themselves.

I suppose so, ya!

[Ron Dudelston]

John, I fully agree with your statement that we really do not have original thoughts.  Our “artistry “ comes from the impact others have made on us and how we interpret them.  Scott Phillips and I may build identical pieces but each are unique to us. King Solomon said it best, “There is nothing new under the sun.” 

[JWD]

In regards to drawing, painting, or photography, I think a great deal of the art is in what the artist chooses to present - I never would have painted the children in the boat if I had seen it for example (assuming I was a painter of course ).

 

I think technique is as important as that artistic choice of what to present, but these days I am in the minority on that.  Both are what makes the work unique to us - my technique with woodworking is inevitably different that that of others - the choice of what radius round over to use on furniture, or whether to chamfer instead for example.  They are individually mundane decisions, but they add up to how you choose to build, and few will build exactly as you do just as you will not build as they do.

[Gerald]

Even tho we may make the same table over time we each develop a different way of both getting there and give the final product a different  "look". Above all there is that art must be enjoyable (not that I like all I see) and "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

 

I don't consider myself an artist but I have been called that. Just give me the enjoyment of completing a project.

[BillyJack]

You either pain by number or don’t. 

[Gene Howe]

On 3/22/2025 at 8:32 AM, BillyJack said:

You either pain by number or don’t. 

Don't know if you omitted the "t" on purpose or not. It's certainly apt in either case.

My only original creations were our twin sons...and I lots of help with that!