Marionette puppets, kaleidoscopes, bowls, vases, baby rattles, teapots, spinning tops, wine stoppers, chopsticks, ring holders and dozens of spoons. All wooden, all handmade by woodworkers across the Pacific Northwest.
Hundreds of these works of wood art and more are on display at the first Great Northwest Wood Show and Sale, happening Aug. 6 to Sept. 24 at Artisans at the Dahmen Barn in Uniontown, Washington, south of Pullman. The show features about 20 woodworkers, most from the Inland Northwest, alongside artists from other areas like southern Idaho and the Washington coast.
Ed Krumpe, a show coordinator and participating woodworker, has displayed his art at the Barn's wood shows since 2009. He says wood art has elements of sculpture, painting, fine linework, color and other means of artistic expression.
"We have a broad concept of what art is," Krumpe says. "It's not just a table. People will make tables out of beautiful pieces of [burlwood] and things. It becomes a work of art."
The Barn serves as a community art center, featuring a gallery, 11 artist studios, and a gift shop selling local art, books, and food products. Besides art shows like the Great Northwest Wood Show and Sale, Dahmen Barn also regularly hosts art exhibitions, concerts, and classes for ceramics and cooking.
Each woodworker is displaying at least four pieces during August's invitational, ranging from furniture and wall hangings to kitchen utensils and toys. Krumpe is showing a Southwestern Indigenous American-inspired birch vase, black locust burl wood bowls or vases, maple and cherry toaster tongs, and a spalted maple trivet.
Krumpe usually has an idea of what to make out of a piece of wood before he even starts turning it. He said wood art takes "a lot of thought and a lot of mistakes," as wood has natural imperfections and can break during turning or carving. The size and shape of a piece can also dictate the size and shape of the art.
"A lot of what we do all day is applying our craft. How do you form things? How do you sharpen your tools to get the right cut and stuff like that?" Krumpe says. "But at the end of the day, what you have is art. A piece of art that is a thing of beauty that can inspire or mystify or raise questions."
Moreover, Krumpe says woodworkers can spend more time on the finish of a piece than shaping or carving. The finish consists of numerous thin, layered coats of finish; one coat takes about three days to set, after which Krumpe polishes and buffs the piece before applying another coat.
Krumpe's pieces usually have seven to nine coats of finish.
"People will look and they say, 'Oh, that's a nice wood salad bowl. I could get that at Ikea or something,'" Krumpe says. "Well, yeah, but you wouldn't get one finished like this."
Jim Christiansen, another show coordinator and participating woodworker, has also shown his art at the Barn since 2009. This year, he's displaying silver maple and European pear teapots, walnut bowls, and kitchen utensils and chopstick sets made out of padauk, walnut and maple.
Christiansen says that, unlike more traditional art forms, wood art can also have practical use.
"Wood is one of the traditional materials that mankind has used almost since the beginning of time," he says. "There are examples all over the world... people using wood for food utensils and vessels and weapons and also using wood in a practical way, but then starting to include principles of design and put meaning into their life."
Dahmen Barn held wood shows biannually until 2020, and annually since then, says Julie Hartwig, a curator and manager there. After the success of its last wood show in 2022, organizers decided to extend shows from one month to two, starting with the Great Northwest Wood Show and Sale. This is also the first year Dahmen Barn has opened submissions to the broader Pacific Northwest.
Originally built in 1935 by a German farmer, the barn itself still features original woodworking from the era as part of its structure, Hartwig says. That woodworking is also visible from the barn's gallery, where the wood art is being displayed.
"A lot of people in America kind of have a reverence for wood," Krumpe says. "Wood is with us from the cradle to the grave, if you think about it. And it's nice to have artistic and beautiful wood in there too." ♦
The Great Northwest Wood Show and Sale • Aug. 6-Sept. 24, open Thu-Sun from 10 am-6 pm • Artisans at the Dahmen Barn • 419 N. Park Way, Uniontown • artisanbarn.org • 509-229-3414
