HARPS
My background is teaching and woodworking.
I used to teach math and music while I developed my furniture making skills. Actually during my early teaching career back in NYC, I worked with a small group of 4th graders – we built a chair. How and why I can’t remember, but I guess even then I liked building things.
When I taught math and music at a middle school in California, I started learning how to turn wood and then build furniture. When I moved to Portland, I began my Junior Engineering program.
I taught kids how to build small bridges and working cranes. This was not a “shop class” but an integrated math/engineering program.
You can see this influence in my work. The first few pieces harken to my guitar strings . The later pieces (architectural works) were inspired by the cable stayed bridges I built with the kids.
I use poplar and black walnut
I took 3/4″ solid poplar and milled it down to 1/8″ thickness- now I could easily bend it.
I sandwiched it between larger pieces of black walnut .
This “snow shoe” measures 17″ wide and 5ft tall
Here’s a close-up
A variation below Haven’t come up with a name yet but it’s 17″ wide and 4ft tall
and another close-up
I’m not used to building non-functioning pieces, so I decided to add a shelf and a mirror. 22″ by 4ft
then I thought I’d use rattan sheeting . 20″ by 4ft
The top crown rail is in the shape of a CLOUDLIFT
I was using some aromatic cedar on another project, so I thought I’d use it for the next “harp”. This one really does look like a harp.
24″ by 4ft
The bottom could be used as a shelf of merely a way to place the harp on a table instead of hanging it on a wall.
Now I needed to come up with something totally different.
I still wanted to use thin poplar slats between black walnut, but I wanted to build something more architectural. This reminds me of a cable-stayed bridge. 24″ tall and 4ft long
I like this new direction so I used similar wood to make this. Here’s another bridge inspired piece. 24″ tall and 4 ft long
