Alan Stirt: Woodturner, Artist and Teacher

ARCHIVES

These are images from the various series I've developed over the years. Click on an image to launch a slide show of each series.

Classical Bowls

One of my enduring interests has been the use of classical bowl forms. Simple, focused forms work well in showing off interesting grain patterns as well as being sculptural objects that can command space.

Slide Show

  • fluted-14
    First Fluted Bowl, Butternut, 11" diameter, 1981.
  • fluted-15
    Cherry Bowl with diagonal flutes., 13" diameter, 1982.
  • fluted-16
    Fluted Cherry Bowl, 13" diameter, 1982.
  • fluted-17
    Butternut Bowl with 60 Flutes, 14" diameter, 2001.
  • fluted-18
    Butternut Bowl with Wide Flutes, 14" diameter, 1990.
  • fluted-19
    Swirl Fluted Cocobolo Bowl, 8" diameter, 1993.
  • fluted-20
    Spiral Fluted Bowl, Bleached Curly Maple, 8" diameter, 1999.
  • fluted-21
    Spiral Fluted Mulberry Burl Bowl, 4 1/2" diameter, 2003.
  • fluted-22
    Spiral Fluted Maple Burl Bowl, 8" diameter, 2000.
  • fluted-23
    Spiral Fluted Bowl, Masur Birch, 6" diameter, 2003.
  • fluted-24
    Swirl Fluted Bowl, Bigleaf Maple burl, 7 1/4 " diameter, 2009.
  • fluted-25
    Bowl with 72 flutes, Butternut, 15" diameter, 2009.

Fluted Bowls

I made my first fluted bowl in 1981, inspired by a photo of a Chinese Song Dynasty ceramic fluted bowl. My hope was to create an interesting bowl using relatively uninteresting wood. The results were more successful than I had
hoped. Even plain wood has grain pattern which works with the carved flutes to produce new patterns and movement. Since then I have made fluted bowls from many different woods, both plain and highly figured, exploring the interaction of shape, carving, and grain pattern.

Slide Show

African Series

Around 1990 I started incorporating texture and carving in a series I was calling "double curve bowls."
The textures were a way to enhance the energy and movement inherent in these vessels. Varying the elements of line, type of wood, texture and pattern could profoundly change the personality of the bowl. These pieces had the feel of some African pots I half-remembered so the series got a new name. In the last few years I have been dying the wood black in some of these pieces, obscuring the grain and letting line, texture and pattern prevail.

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Carved Bowls

Carving and texturing help me explore new forms of expression, both tactile and visual, within my pieces. l mostly work in an intimate, hand-held scale, where the tactile elements come into play. I am always striving to find a combinations of elements that work together to add life to a vessel.

Slide Show

cerermonial bowl

Ceremonial Bowls

In 1986-1987 the rims of the platters I was making became wider. This was a break from the thin, rounded edges that were predominant in my earlier work. I began to think of the rim as a "canvas" which would become a large part of the total composition of the piece. I called these pieces ceremonial bowls, because they referred to ceremonial functions rather than domestic ones.

Slide Show

carved platter

  • painted-14
    First painted platter, Yellow Birch w/india ink, 16" diameter, 1993.
  • painted-15
    Spiral Wave, Yellow Birch w/india ink, 15" diameter, 1993.
  • painted-16
    African pattern platter, Sugar Maple w/milk paint, 16" diameter, 1993.
  • painted-17
    Blue Lines pattern, Sugar Maple w/milk paint, 12" diameter, 1993.
  • painted-18
    Spinning Ring pattern, Sugar Maple w/milk paint, 12" diameter, 1994.
  • painted-19
    Long Lines, Yellow Birch w/India ink, 17" diameter, 1993.
  • painted-20
    Tidal Rip pattern, Black Cherry w/milk paint, 17" diameter, 1995.
  • painted-21
    Pine Needle pattern, Sugar Maple, 16 1/2" diameter, 1996.
  • painted-22
    Crowded Squares, Sugar Maple w/gesso, 14" diameter, 1998.
  • painted-23
    Circles, Maple w/gesso, 15", 1998.
  • painted-24
    St. Marks Variation II, Sugar Maple w/gesso, 17" diameter, 2000.
  • painted-25
    St. Marks Variation, detail.
  • painted-26
    St. Marks Variation II, Sugar Maple w/gesso, 17" diameter, 2000
  • painted-27
    St. Marks Variation III, Sugar Maple w/gesso, 17" diameter, 2000.
  • painted-28
    Transforming Wave, Sugar Maple w/gesso, 15" diameter, 1999.
  • painted-29
    Ghost Circle, Sugar Maple w/gesso, 16" diameter, 2001.
  • painted-30
    Too Many Triangles, Sugar Maple w/gesso, 16" diameter, 2001.
  • painted-31
    Triangles, Sugar Maple w/gesso, 15" diameter, 2004
  • painted-32
    Lines and Squares, Mahogany w/gesso, 20" diameter, 2003.
  • painted-33
    LInes and Triangles, Mahogany w/gesso, 28” diameter, 2003.
  • painted-34
    Lines and Triangles, detail.
  • painted-35
    Star Coral Platter, Mahogany w/milk paint, 18" diameter, 2005.
  • painted-36
    Star Coral Platter, detail.
  • painted-37
    Nairobi Squares, Mahogany w/gesso, 18" diameter, 2007.

Painted Platters

The painted platters were a direct outgrowth of the ceremonial pieces. Cutting through a colored surface to reveal a pattern, modeled after the ceramic technique of sgraffito, enabled me to create new kinds of patterns while utilizing plain woods. With all of these pieces, the idea of the mandala was foremost. The rims carried a lot of energy, sometimes chaotic, which was resolved by the calm center.

Slide Show

sqiuare series bowl

  • Square-14
    First square piece. Maple with milk paint. 13" X 11" X2", 2004.
  • Square-15
    Square Ceremonial Bowl #2. Mahogany and milk paint. 27" X 24" x 2", 2004.
  • Square-16
    Square Ceremonial Bowl #2, detail.
  • Square-17
    Tile Pattern platter, 26" X 24" X 2", Mahogany w/milk paint, 2006.
  • Square-18
    Diamond pattern platter, 17" X 14" X 2", Cherry w/milk paint, 2004.
  • Square-19
    Diamond pattern platter, detail.
  • Square-20
    Ripple Pattern Platter , 17" X 14", Cherry w/milk paint, 2006.
  • Square-21
    Ripple Pattern Platter , detail.
  • Square-22
    Square platter, 12" X 10" X 2", Cherry with milk paint, 2010.
  • Square-23
    Square platter, detail.
  • Square-24
    Criss-Cross Platter, 15 1/4" X 11" X 2 1/2", 2005.
  • Square-25
    Criss-Cross Platter, detail.
  • Square-26
    Madrone Burl platter, 6 1/2" X 5" X 2", 2005.
  • Square-27
    Square Hollow Bowl, 8 1/2" X 7 1/2" X 3", Cherry with milk paint, 2006.
  • Square-28
    Cross Current platter 8" X 7" X 1 1/2", Cherry with milk paint, 2010.
  • Square-29
    Wave Pattern, 13 1/4" X 11 1/2", Cherry with Milk Paint, 2008.
  • Square-30
    Tulipwood Bowl, 6" X 5" X 1 1/2", 2005.
  • Square-31
    Cross Current platter, 13 1/4" X 11 1/2", Cherry with Milk Paint, 2008.
  • Square-32
    Yellow Burst pattern, 10 1/2" X 8 1/2" X 2", Cherry with Milk Paint, 2009.
  • Square-33
    Erosion Series #1, 8" X 7 1/2" X 2 1/2", Cherry with milk paint, 2011.
  • Square-34
    Fractured Series Bowl, 10" X 9 1/2" X 3 1/4", Cherry with milk paint, 2012.
  • Square-35
    Fractured Series Bowl, detail.
  • Square-36
    Erosion Series #3, 15" X 12 3/4" X 1 1/2", Cherry with milk paint, 2011.
  • Square-37
    Waves, 15" X 12" X 2 1/4", Cherry with milk paint, 2016.

Square Series

I started my "Square"  series in 2004.  Influenced by the ceramic sculpture of Tony Hepburn and the wooden "blood bowls" of Jim Partridge, these pieces, turned from roughly rectangular blocks of wood, are both turned and unturned.  They have led me to explore new types of patterns and to dive more deeply into the power of the imperfect and irregular.

Slide Show

Page Top

  • African-01
    Carved and sandblasted bowl, Maple burl, 13" diameter, 1989.
  • African-02
    Maple Burl African Series Bowl, 9" diameter,1991.
  • African-03
    Boxelder Burl African Series Bowl, 7 5/8" diameter, 1990.
  • African-04
    African Series II Bowl, Dyed Maple, 6" diameter, 2002.
  • african -14
    Boxelder Burl African Series Bowl, 11" diameter, 1992.
  • African-06
    African Series Bowl, Dyed Maple, 8" diameter, 2004.
  • African-07
    African Series Bowl, Dyed Maple, 10" diameter, 2004.
  • African-08
    African Series Bowl, Dyed Maple, detail.
  • African-09
    Crosshatch pattern bowl, 10" diameter, 2004.
  • African-10
    Crosshatch pattern bowl, detail.
  • African-11
    Crosshatch Bowl, Cherry with Milk Paint, 9" diameter, 2005.
  • African-12
    Maple burl bowl, 11" diameter, 2006.
  • African-13
    Maple burl bowl, 8" diameter, 2009.