Harry & Eva Automaton Dancers 2012

Meet Harry and Eva - dance contestants #266 demonstrating a simple move - 2 steps forward and 2 steps back. This happy couple are unconcerned about winning the contest. They'll take any excuse to dance. They've been memorialised in oak, walnut, maple, and catalpa woods. The idea to create automata was inspired by the movie, "Hugo", which is based on a real automata using highly precise clockwork mechanisms. My background is a wood carver and carpenter - clockwork automata is out of my area of expertise, but I've always been a huge fan of whirligigs which use more elementary forms of gear and linkage. So I created Harry & Eva along these lines. They are the first in a series of dancing couples. The accompanying video shows them in action along with a few other ideosyncratic tidbits from TagYerit.

"It's Not What You Think"

"It's Not What You Think" - Click image for more pics

Sometimes you forget what's in your psyche until you're staring at a block of wood and staring back at you amidst the waves is Tubeman. The art of discovery is a mixture of happy accident and releasing the subconscious. When the marks from the chainsaw enhanced the image they stayed. The eroded beach formations in the foreground were originally carved by insects. All else was done with chisel and mallet . . .

Carved Maple Figure. Hand rubbed shellac finish. A neighbors old maple tree was hollow and they took it down. This was one of the slabs. Whatever colors you see, were there in the wood from the staining of the elements and enhanced with the finish.

DIMENSIONS - 23" wide X 16" wide X 11 1/2" deep
25 lbs.
*For more on the history of Tubeman visit Lyrics AND Tubeman CD pages.

"Emergence"

"Emergence"   Click image for more pics

Carved Maple Figure. Hand rubbed oil varnish finish. Is he climbing in from a cave or just from the dark? A neighbors old maple tree was hollow and they took it down. We took several pieces for sculpting. The shape of the slab suggested the design. I just started to carve to see who might have emerged and found this guy lurking just below the surface. Whatever colors you see, were there in the wood from the staining of the elements.

DIMENSIONS: 15 1/4" wide X 8 1/2" high X 6 5/8" deep

"Nutsy, Rusty & Crusty"

"Nutsy, Rusty & Crusty"   Click image for more pics

Rusty, the tall guy in the center is made from pieces of unknown origins. His head is made from an old vise handle, but his body came from who knows what, and his arms look to possibly been a draw (spoke) shave, which was originally made from a file. He has a rubber shoulder collar and the neck is from galvanized pipe. To his right (your left) is Nutsy, a reformed cable grounding clamp, now adorned with a castle nut (castellated) crown. And to his left (your right) is crusty, another cable ground clamp with a wing nut head. These 2 little guys are standing in t-nut boots.
12" wide, 4 1/2" deep, 13 1/8" tall
Signed on the bottom, TAGYERIT 2012

"From Billy's Scrap Kinetic Wood Sculpture"

"From Billy's Scrap"   Click image for more pics

Maple, Walnut, rosewood and iron (steel).
DIMENSIONS:
Height: 42" to 44 1/8" (these vary according to her orientation)
Width: 25"
Depth: 7 1/8" + - depending on orientation

Typically the feet of a figure are meant to steady the base. However, here, four small thin bent spindly spring steel legs ever so slightly exaggerate any shaking. Her support is an iron rod, with a spring surrounding it, that suggests movement. Her body and her head can each be turned separately, so you might never know if she's coming or going.

When good friend and fellow wood worker Billy died in the 1980s, I had my pick of some of his beautiful wood scraps. Over the years I've studied these beautiful pieces of wood cut in curves, leftovers - like the phoenix waiting to rise again. When the solution finally came, it seemed so simple. The offspring of Alexander Calder, Joan Miró, and Jean Arp might have plucked this kinetic lady from my subconscious. The wood was reworked to fit the vision, but marks from the band saw, the planer and the chisel were intentionally left to play with the light that hits it.

Walnut Music Stand

Walnut Panel Music Stand $2499.00 (plus shipping) - Click image for more pics

Rich Newman built and carved this music stand in 1981. Cleaned and re-rubbed with tung oil Dec. 2012 (when these pictures were taken). It was displayed at The Pioneer Valley Woodworker's Guild show at the Don Muller Gallery 1981.

Condition: Has a few minor dings and occasional manufacturing imperfections

Closed Dimensions (as panel):
Height: 66 1/2"
Width: 22 1/4" (20 5/8" Plus the width of the adjusting knobs)
Depth 2 1/2 (1 3/4 frame + 3/4 lip)
music shelf lip 1" deep

Open Dimensions - in easel position:
Height: 62 1/4"
Depth: 35 1/4"
Height from lip of the bottom of the page holder to floor: approx. 43" to 50"

- adjusts in 5 positions by loosening square wood bolts on top sides

Materials: antique reclaimed walnut for the frame and body. Peruvian walnut was used for the carving.
Design: The musician and the dancers. The barefoot elven horn player is carved on Peruvian walnut. He's playing what looks to be a twisted version of a medieval brass trumpet. The music inspires the woman dancer through her graceful movements. This was made to sit as an ornamental side panel when not in service and then opens out to hold sheet music for the musician (conductor ?) who performs while standing. It is also functional as a display easel, sign holder, or presentation fixture. This custom decorative stand may be just the thing to use at a presentation, meeting, restaurant, hotel, office lobby, exhibition, auditorium or concert hall.

$2499.00 plus - Contact us to discuss final price with shipping, pick-up or delivery options. 30 lb. (Figure shipping weight at 50lbs.)

Giant At the Back Door

NFS "Giant at the Back Door" - White & red cedar with wood burned highlights 2012  

The Catalpa Dragon W/ Stained Glass Wings

"Catalpa Dragon" - Click image for larger pic - inquiries welcome 2016

Woman's Burden

"Woman's Burden" 2016 - inquiries welcome