Reading the Wood
The balance
subtle explorations of the possibilities to unite material, imagination and hand are as viable and current today as they were 27 years ago. In times of turmoil, this artist's work can bring us back to nature and evoke emotion, perhaps a smile.The place -- Oregon
"mist so fine, you must look twice to see it -- you don't even feel it"except you get awfully wet walking through a forest. The plants looking up, drinking the mist -- a bright spot in the sky, sun glistening a little bit, through cloud covers -- and the green, infinite shades. A spot in the mountain's forest, it feels as if the trees and plants want to grow so fast as if to cover us up -- fold us into an almost warm, moist, womb.
The mantra
"eliminate preconceived notions"
The material
The stone that the builder refused will always be the head corner stone. The things people refuse are the things they should choose.-- Bob Marley
Each tree and each part of the tree has an ultimate purpose.
-- George Nakashima
We work this material as an instrument to fashion useful objects, possibly if so willed a thing of beauty -- in any case a joining of the rhythms of nature to fulfill its destiny and ours.
-- George Nakashima
The way
Like my ancestors, I use my eyes and my hands. The eyes to observe nature for form, for material, for function. It is from nature that my creativity derives. The connection with the object and natural phenomenon is constant, rigorous, and faithful. The hands are for defining -- shaped, polished and chiseled -- to be re-seen in concrete form so as to be compared with memory that inspired.The object
The great beauty of nature's jewels -- gold, silver, diamonds and pearls -- are hidden at the beginning in their rough state. So it is with wood we work the pearls of the forest. Our object is to take this wood with all its history, to learn its ways and make it into things of natural beauty -- functionally organic.Chronology
| 1942 | Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| 1949-61 | Worked in family children's clothing store |
| 1962-67 | Sold children's clothing, wholesale, on the road; worked in a Jobbers warehouse |
| 1968 | Forum Sportswear, warehouse to designer (credits: GQ, Esquire, NY Times, Menswear Daily) |
| 1973 | Moved to Oregon |
| 1975, 1978-9 | Faded Glory, Designer (credits: GQ, Esquire, NY Times, Menswear Daily) |
| 1980 | Started Silver Splinter, selling furniture & sculptural boxes; later changed to Michael Elkan Studio |
| 1980 | George Nakashima buys work to sell in his studio |
| 1993 | Furniture for the Native American Museum at Warm Springs, Oregon |
| 1995 | Wrote the book Reading the Wood: Techniques & Projects from a Master Woodworker |
| 2002 | Closed Studio to explore other artistic endeavors, such as architecture, cement & cement furniture, & garden design; still doing a limited amount of art furniture |
