Welsh Sweet Chestnut trees, Sikkens stains & oils,
and a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears…
Each pole stands at 4 metres high. Diameters: Sun Pole 50cm, Moon Pole 40cm.
Private commission for Fforest Barn Retreat Centre, sat under Sugar Loaf Mountain, Monmouthshire, Wales.
Not for sale.
There’s a story to tell here…
…and if I was a storyteller, I would tempt you in with a tale of midnight deals made at misty crossroads in the Black Mountains of Wales…
… of a creative aspiration that would cost a pound of flesh…
…of the manifest magic of the forest.
Detailed pictures and an outline of the project can be viewed below, but if you want to get to the nub of things, and see and hear the story of how these carvings came into being, then here is the film…
An encounter with a Dartmoor farmer who had planked up some of his fallen spalted Beech trees, and a telephone call with an old mate, who wanted to know if I was interested in creating a cover for his band’s new single… et voila! A somewhat twisted, cheeky, and quite powerful monkey peaked through from the pile of wood in my workshop.
SUN POLE
Patrick and Gaby, my friends and clients for this project, provided me with a list of three totem animals each, which hold specific meaning for them both, and a request for these poles to also carry a distinct Yin and Yang, or Feminine and Masculine energies. Their choice of creatures also revealed a geographical split, with Patricks male pole containing creatures of Central and South Americas, whilst Gabys creatures were all from the Northern Hemisphere. I suggested that we also represent the land as a totem, and I then had the components needed to go away and produce a design.
In Patrick’s words, the Sun Pole (as it became known) represents “the Masculine, Shiva, consciousness, the space in which all occurs, represented by an upward facing triangle, energy into transcendence”.
Jaguar, Jungle, Ouribos, Alpaca, Sun, Eagle
MOON POLE
“The Moon Pole represents the Feminine, represented by a downward facing triangle, Shakti, energy into manifestation”.
The brief from Gaby on the female pole was to include the totems of Owl, Wolf and Otter. She was particularly drawn to showing the exquisite curves of an Otter swimming (no easy task if it is also to feature the Otters face!). Again, we added the element of Earth, the land and forest. On this pole, the mountain with a flat top, carved above the forest trees, is a representation of Sugar Loaf mountain, under which is where Fforest Barn Mountain retreat centre sits, now the home of these two poles.
In early discussions around the design, the clients expressed a liking for the traditional First Nations style of totem poles, but Im incredibly grateful to them for their understanding and trust in allowing me create something in my own style, where I could relax, flow and not try to emulate. For me, the design posed many challenges. Firstly, how to convey an authentic face and body for each creature, that could still look good despite its proportions being squeezed to fit a tall and thin design. There’s a fine balance to not making a creature look like a goofy cartoon character, or one of the more clichéd roadside chainsaw carvings of a wonky nosed bear, or a boss-eyed eagle. Especially whilst bearing in mind that my previous experience at both chainsaw carving, or carving with chisel and mallet, could be counted on a butchers hand. When working initially on the design, it was impracticable to really consider the two sides of each pole, which left me scratching my chin for many hours after the clients signed of the front-on design!
Ahh yes, more challenges! How to safely (or otherwise) move two tree trunks, which became three due to the discovery of a giant seem of rotten core and the pole’s abandonment after already working for two weeks on it. The answer was to use a JCB to unload the logs, and an engine hoist to then lift them and turn them while they were being worked on. After many botched attempts using manpower, winches and yet more chin scratches, I employed ancient tech, four round gate posts and a rope to pull with, and found I could single handedly roll these giants in and out of my studio.
There is so much detail hidden away, especially on the Moon Pole, clam shells weeping tears, trout leaping, a frog, magical mushrooms and more, that I cant feasibly show every photo taken here, so if you really want to see these details, watch the documentary where more can be seen.
