MIND OF A BLACK WOODWORKER IN ARIZONA

                         ARTIST STATEMENT  Gerard Merchant (°1959, Lynchburg, United States) is an artist who mainly works in wood sculpture, allowing natural form to be reborn. By examining the ambiguity and origination via retakes and variations, Gerard considers creating works of art a gift which is executed using unclear and less formal rules and which should always refer to working with objects delivered via Mother Nature. His sculptures never show the complete structure. This results in the fact that the artist can easily imagine his own interpretation without being hindered by the historical reality of what Mother Nature starts with. By choosing mainly formal solutions, he tries to develop forms that do not follow logical criteria, but are based only on subjective associations and formal parallels, which incite the viewer to make new personal associations. His works are notable for their museum finis...

Aluminum block on wood lathe.  My goal is to create a sphere jig, (sounds so much better than a ball jig). First things first, I bought the One Way drill jig at the symposium, in Phoenix this year, with the thought of mounting a router. I never thought I would be using it on aluminum. This picture shows my first attempt at making a "T" washer to use to bolt the sphere jig. The second picture has the jig repositioned, parallel to the bed ways, I like this position much better, as it allows me to plunge to the depth I require. Then I reposition it, toward the center by + 1/8" or so. Also you need to play with the speed of the lathe. I believe I was some where around 250-300 rpm. This piece is a cut off, I never measured the thickness. it is just thicker than the 2 enclosed bearing I plan to mount. Also it's thicker because I wanted to add girth, to ensure more rigidity. This picture show the center knocked out. I used the router to go as thin a...