Boule

Process: Turned on lathe as a hollow form. Bowl gouge, Vicmarc chuck, jam chuck to remove the foot. Standard session.
Name Origin: People described it as "breadlike" — specifically "a blueberry boule" — because of the burl's swirling grain and textured voids. A bowl is a boule.
Type: hollow form
Date Created: October 2022
Ownership: Still in artist's possession.
Finish: Linseed oil and beeswax
Origin Story: Late fall 2022, a huge red oak fell at a friend's house in South Decatur, crushing a car and blocking the road. Went over with chainsaws to clear the road and took the opportunity to load some wood. Turned in October 2022. A straightforward hollowform session — no drama. The burl did the heavy lifting: wild grain direction changes, swirls, nice color, voids and inclusions giving it a textured, breadlike quality.
Salvage Location: South Decatur, Atlanta, GA
Material Source: Salvaged red oak from a tree that fell at a friend's house in South Decatur. The tree smashed a car on its way down and blocked the road. Artist and a friend cleared the road with chainsaws, stacked the wood roadside, and loaded pieces into the truck.
Dimensions: 5.5" wide, 5.75" tall. Rim 2.75", foot 2.25"
Status: Complete. Still in artist's possession.

Materials

Red Oak Burl Burl section from a large red oak. Wild grain direction changes, swirls, voids, and inclusions give it a textured, breadlike quality.

void Hollow interior space, opening into the form what opens when you stop filling yourself, revelation, emergence
closed form Self-contained form that doesn't need anything external self-sufficiency, autonomy, completeness

damage-as-material 2026-03-10T16:56:05.979Z The damage was the material all along. Not damage overcome, not damage redeemed, not beautiful-despite-broken. The rot is the color. The void is the form. The chainsaw scar is the first mark in a collaboration the chainsaw did not know it was starting. Damage is not precondition; damage is content.