mardi 3 février 2015

Attain Appreciation For Natural Beauty When You Experience Modern Art Through Reclaimed Wood

By Janine Hughes


Reclaiming materials from the earth to create useful objects has been a pursuit for ages. People simply used local resources to build the tools and items they needed. In areas where trees were plentiful, the next natural step was to make things attractive. Using the colors and grain became a challenge to the inspired artist, and preserving natural beauty a must. This heritage of craftsmanship is pointedly revived in Chicago, Illinois, where many artisans are using woods reclaimed from many buildings built over one hundred years ago.

An understanding of the craftsmanship that is inherit in using this natural material in a completely new and artistic fashion comes from seeing and touching it. Appreciating modern art through reclaimed wood is a visual and tactile process. It is artists who see the ebb and flow of the lines and desire to use them beautifully. Using natural, stained or painted surfaces in combination with varied textures, many unique installations are created.

The Chicago art scene is populated with many craftsman who use a variety of woods as their inspiration. With varied textures their palette, their experimentation with salvaged pieces are filling local studios and galleries. There are handsome furniture pieces and significant works of fine art available for purchase.

It is not unusual to see texture layered upon texture to achieve a large piece. Combinations of paint or stain are used to delineate pattern and line. These are eye catching, yet encourage touch as well.

Slices and chips merge to make mosaics filled with movement and rhythm. The high and low of varied sizes creates rugged yet appealing surfaces. Contrasting or complementary stain and paint colors develop thematic units in large pieces. It takes as much time to assemble these as it would to create a traditional tile version, and the final pieces exhibit similar levels of beauty. The skillful eye is able to see pictures in these small units and the hand of the craftsman is skilled to mass them into something much more important as a whole than they were as single bits of material.

Any geometric shape is possible, though at first one might think only of angular possibilities. When enough pieces are laid together, circular patterns evolve and even swirling lines take on a completely different look when compared to basic squares and triangles.

Harvesting materials that are left over after sawing lumber or cutting trees takes on a new look in the hands of the artists. Dust piles, slivers and tiny splinters are all put to good use. Some may have been part of an old building, a barn or anything made of wood. Transforming carpenter cast offs into artistic uses is what motivates the owners of many studios.

Harvesting construction discards results in repetitive geometric patterns. These have the unity of machine work. Assembling hundreds together often develops an entirely different wall surface than has been previously seen.

Woods that lived a previous life as a functional item, yet reclaimed to make something new, are satisfying materials for those passionate about recycling. This is art that is mindful of the earth and how to protect the limited resources it has. The rejected and old become valuable modern art.




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