Omphalos - A Nocturnal Contemplation
The largest piece of Claro Walnut in this piece has the outline profile it received as the cut away from part of the "Cherry and Claro Walnut Desk". It lay around the studio waiting to inspire on an idle day. Once I stood it up on the Maple slab, a sort of slow motion doodling process of addition and subtraction commenced. The topography of this piece keeps the eye moving up and down and all the way around; so it sits on a turn table base to allow it to be placed almost anywhere in the room.
Material
- maple
- cherry
- oak
- walnut
Type
- wood
Meet the Maker
Donald Burge
Burgeonwood, Inc.
From the first time my first pocketknife slid through a piece of pine and I experienced the smooth surface, the pungent scent, and the flow of the grain, wood has been a source of sensual interest and pleasure for me. My interest in working with wood waxed and waned for the next few decades: I never thought of myself as needing or wanting to work wood so I never sought instruction beyond the required semester of wood shop in junior high. Those periods, however, when I found myself whittling, or carving or even just looking at or smelling a piece of wood knowledge seemed to accrue naturally through my senses. The present period began about fifteen years ago when I accepted a friend’s challenge to design for a function but refused to allow the function to dictate a form, process and product without the greatest possible sensual interest. Now, I have clients that say they can’t help but touch the work; and since I make sure that even the obscured lines of the piece are interesting, some even lie on the floor to get every possible angle of view.