While exploring on our creek one day with my little boy, I heard, “Daddy, this looks cool”. I turned to see the edge of a blackened piece of wood sticking up from the gravel bar. We dug and washed it off in the cool water, and sure enough, it was a spectacular piece of oak that had been underwater slowly absorbing iron for so long that it was ebonized all the way through. Completely waterlogged, I heaved the piece on my shoulder and carried it to the studio where it rested and dried for two years. Blackwood Watch makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable, like a tower looking out over the land. It evokes emotion from the intricate carved recesses, and the menacing way it interacts with space. Oak, maple, bronze. 70″ x 18″ x 13″
