Wood Sculptures by Brad Quarless
“My sculptures reflect a strong relationship between “three keys” of my work: Wood, Environment & Time.”
Brad Quarless. Ébéniste, Wood Restoration Specialist & Owner of Parfait Parquet.
Thoughts and notes about the different sculptures
Oak Burl from the Wirral, Liverpool
The role of the wood carver and sculptor is to allow the wood to talk. In this picture, and the others related to it in the gallery, you can ‘read’ the life story of the tree. In fact, if you count the rings you’ll see that this one is over 150 years old.
You are literally looking at a slice of a tree’s life.
The Holmfirth ‘Beech Tree’ Tree Rings
A series of tree ring sculptures celebrating the life of a tree, rescued from the small town of Holmfirth, Yorkshire. I came across the tree in a farmyard, just about to be cut up for fire wood. So I leaned over the gate and asked if I could buy it because I could see that it was hollow inside.
Unfortunately, because the internal structure was missing, it was more than two years before I could even start the sculpting.
Firstly, the logs were cut into slices. There were sixteen in total, but sadly four of them didn’t survive the next stage. The remaining slices were beautifully transformed into various items – from coffee tables to wall sculptures. In the gallery you can see how the tree ‘released’ itself, allowing me to create this series of amazing sculptures.
The Spalted Beech Holey Bowl
A beautiful, unique bowl, created from a slice of ‘waste wood’. The larger slice was being used to make a Memorial coffee table. However, the makers had missed this amazing ‘spalted’ beech bowl because it was hidden inside the waste.
The hole in the base was extremely delicate because it was decayed wood. To halt the decay the hole was cast with resin to give it a clear glass effect.
The Whale Tale Wood Sculpture
Even in this partial image, the shape of a whale’s tail is clear to see. Now just try and imagine what I was thinking when I saw it lying there on the beach at La Rochelle. It was like a dream come true!
But before I rushed off to get my tools from the car, I walked slowly around, surveying my prize find…