Made during a class taught by Vesery, the artist who pioneered this approach to turning and carving. Scroll was the first piece from the class — a learning piece. Birdseye and Shell followed as stronger works. The class focused on form, proportion, and representation, starting with turning eggs (deceptively hard primitive shapes), then carving, burning, inking, and dry-brushing color.
Class Location
Studios of Trent Bosch, Fort Collins, Colorado
Finish
Oil, shellac, and wax
Type
wood sculpture
Story
I didn't know how to make a spiral. So I just started cutting, following the curve, letting each groove suggest the next. By the time I stopped, the indecision had become a form.
Dimensions
Smaller than an egg — started from an egg blank
Status
Complete. Still in artist’s possession.
Materials
pear woodsalvaged
Formal Elements
spiralInward-turning coiled form with grooves that trace directional flowindecision becoming decision, path through uncertainty
grooveCarved channel that creates rhythm and directionality, invites tactile followingmarking the path of energy through the form
Embodies
becomingnessThe quality of being in passage between states. Not before, not after—during.
vesery-turning-pointOne class. Three of your strongest pieces. The proximity, the permission, the collision with someone operating at that level. It unlocked something.
Enacts
creation as counter-practice Making instead of consuming. Evidence that you still have agency. Every cut a vote for yourself.
Sibling Of
ShelltumblesTurned a primitive shape on lathe for proportion, then hand carved for final form. Method learned from Vesery class applied independently.fc__10.jpegA mold was made of Shell and it has been cast in plaster and concrete with varying success. The casts are experiments/derivatives, not separate pieces — they ask questions about authenticity, sameness, and difference. Which is real? Which is authentic? Is it the same or different when the form is identical but the material carries different history?The spiral reads as an eye. The dish is the primary focal point.wood sculptureLate 2024 (after October Vesery class)Kept.People pick it up and tumble it immediately. The dish fits the hand and thumb — the form invites handling.Made after the Fort Collins class, not during it. Applied the Vesery method independently — turning for proportion, carving for exploration.Completeness. It resolves. Has a primary focal point (the dish), invites touch, and the spiral reads like an eye — gives the piece presence.Wax, lightly buffed with wool padsMade after the Vesery class in Fort Collins, exploring ideas from that class — woodturning a primitive shape for proportion, then hand carving for direct exploration and final shaping. Pear wood, same material as Scroll.Salvaged pear wood (same source as Scroll)Scroll's sibling. Another spiral born from indecision, another accumulation of choices. The tighter coil and the visible terminus suggest a journey that found its end. Arrival after wandering.Size of a jumbo eggComplete. Still in artist’s possession.
