The Myrtlewood Gallery

 

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Art by Nature and Gareth

by Nancy Hammond (the Courier Summer Guide 1995)

    Reedsport artist Gareth, works with nature, and together they create one-of-a-kind art pieces.

    To a great degree, the products made by nature dictate what the final product made by Gareth will be.  Wood burls of green maple, myrtlewood, cascara, walnut and manzanita take shape in the artist's studio.

    "A burl is like cutting a diamond." Gareth says, "I try to cut it to get the maximum value. Design starts with the raw burl; I study it to decide if it will be two small bowls, or one large, if it will have a natural or finished edge.  The wood always leads the way."

    Gareth's career as a woodturner began with "a book and a lot of experimenting."  As a teenager, a prize-winning spice cabinet was the beginning of a lifetime of working with wood.  More recently, his work in natural edged vessels has been recognized and accepted by every nationally juried art show he has sent slides of his art to.  Some of his pieces were selected to be shown at the ANA 22 show at the Holter Museum of Art in 1993, as well as the Bellevue Art Museum Pacific N.W. Art Annual in 1992. The Art Anuual in Bellevue received 2500 submissions. Of those, 134 art works were chosen, covering all art mediums, painting, sculpture, pottery, and turned vessels by Gareth of Reedsport.

     A Reedsport resident since 1978, Gareth describes himself as a full time father and husband, and a woodturner when he feels like it.

    "I don't rush it, I might want to sleep on an idea. Some bowls that have been rough turned wait four or five years for me."

    The process of raw wood to finished vessel is a long one, requiring patience. To create a piece like the whimsically titled "Splash" or Ouch Too" Gareth starts with a chunk of wood that is often found or salvaged. 

    "I prefer to work with green maple, but I use all types of wood.  A lot of the wood used to come from loggers, but since the changes in our timber industry have come that's all changed.  Luckily, I stockpiled some and I'm a good scavenger, finding workable pieces washed up on the beach or  blown down in a storm." 

    The green burl is 'rough-turned' to obtain a basic shape.  At that point the wood must dry.  It takes about one year per inch of wood to air dry a piece.  Some rough-turned bowls are pressure cooked in Gareth's studio to color and cure the wood.  The pressure cooking technique speeds the process considerably, enabling him to use the wood in three months.  Manzanita wood added to the "cooking" infuses a signature color ranging from honey colored to a deep burnt orange-brown.

    Each piece is painstakingly finished on a lathe, using a curved tool to achieve a perfectly smooth inside.  The jagged uneven edge of the natural shapes earn the artwork names like "Ouch!" and "Ouch Too". Gareth credits childhood piano lessons with the 'finger awareness' that has kept his hands intact.

    The final result of his work is four or five gallery quality art pieces per year and a series of functional vessels and "Happy Bowls". 

    "I call these small hollow ones 'happy bowls'," Gareth says, "Because I have to be happy when I make them. If I'm stressed or unfocused they just don't turn out."

    A wide variety of Gareths' work is on display at the Myrtlewood Gallery operated by his wife Sharon.  The shop is located at Highway 101, in Reedsport.  Displays include gallery pieces of Myrtlewood, Cascara, and Maple, along with a huge assortment of functional bowls and Gareths' famous "happy bowls".

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