A small (9 cm x w 9 cm) bowl turned from a piece of Jacaranda from South Africa with beautiful "imperfections"

The other day there was a visitor to the gallery who was shocked to pick up one of my bowls and find that there was a hole in the side of the bowl.  I tried to explain that my personal interest was turning strange pieces of wood – wood that is particularly full of character.  

“But things would fall out of it!”  Was the response – and of course, who could argue with that.

Personally I feel that turning a piece of wood should try to expose its unique “watermark” that was locked inside the wood prior to mounting it on the lathe.  Sometimes this means that the bowl does indeed have a hole in it and in that case, things may fall out of it – but so what?  I wonder what proportion of turned bowls are ever used on a regular basis.  Certainly I make bowls to be used – but some are not very functional.  many turners make beautiful hollow forms, bowls, sculptured turnings and they serve no other function than to give pleasure in a visual and tactile way.

One of the things that has always fascinated me has been the incredible abstract beauty that nature provides for us – especially when looked at out of context or in close-up – it was this that led me to photographing mosses and lichens and to the first book I ever (co) authored - all 400 photographs in the Mosses Lichens and Ferns of Northwest North America were lovingly taken – with nose to the subject!