After the wood is dried and turned, "nothing further happens," Walt Thies observes. "There’s no further decay or deterioration. That color will stay, I guess, forever.".
Photo by John Korb, Smithsonian Institution.
Walt Thies seeks pieces of wood that others might regard as damaged or defective because he feels "they add interest to the wood.".
Photo by John Korb, Smithsonian Institution.
Chilkat weaving is a time-consuming process. Weaving a dance robe like this will take an artist like Dorica Jackson 10 to 12 months to complete, working 40 hours a week.
Photo by John Korb, Smithsonian Institution.
Even producing the warp yarn that Dorica Jackson uses in traditional Chilkat weaving involves a complex process-from collecting the bark to boiling it and spinning it with wool. "It takes quite a while. And the spinning is all done between the hand and the thigh.".
Photo by James Di Loreto, courtesy Smithsonian Institution.
How do artists transform natural materials such as grass, wood, and wool into objects of beauty?
Walt Thies from Oregon is a research plant pathologist and skilled woodturner of bowls, toys, and ornaments. He selects the wood for his creations based on fungal patterns that create attractive whirls, streaks, and designs. "There's nothing artificial about it or mysterious or strange or different; it's just part of what's happening in the ecosystem." The finished products are a beautiful mixture of nature's palette and fine craftsmanship.
Dorica Jackson from Alaska creates Chilkat weavings of enduring beauty. For the dyes, she uses natural materials such as wolf moss that grows on pine trees, copper oxide, and hemlock bark to create rich, vibrant blues, yellows, and blacks. For the warp yarns, she boils inner bark from yellow cedar for several days, then spins it with sheep or goat wool for greater strength.
