Wood sculpture

As a contemporary artistic medium, wood is used in traditional and modern styles, and is an excellent medium for new art. Wood is used in forms of sculpture, craft, and decoration including chip carving, wood burning, and marquetry. Wood offers a fascination, beauty, and complexity in the grain, that often shows even when the medium is painted. Wood is used by carpenters to create many useful items such as cabinets, furniture and musical instruments. Artists use wood for sculpture because it is plentiful and inexpensive when compared to other media like stone or bronze. It is in some ways easier to shape than harder substances, but an artist must develop specific skills to carve it properly. Wood does not last as long as other sculpting media because it can be affected by water rot, dry rot, insect invasion and fire.

One popular form of wood art production is woodturning. Woodturning on a simple lathe, such as a bow lathe or two-person lathe, primarily for practical purposes has occurred since as early as 1300 B.C. Edward S. Cooke, Jr. points out, "During the economic crises of the 1930s, industrial arts education became more vocational in purpose." From the 1930s, the field of wood turning grew from this hobbyist movement in the 1930s to fine artists in the 1970s, experimenting with super object forms and other fine craft concepts. At present, there are a variety of international galleries exhibiting wood art, including The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia, which houses a museum collection and research library in addition to rotating gallery exhibitions.

A person who begins woodcarving is challenged to learn to work with the fiber and grain. Hardness and fragility vary with the species of wood. In general, wood tends to break in the "split direction", the direction in which the fibers separate. In the composition of work, one must work with and around this. Each direction of cut feels and works differently. Sharp tools are essential in allowing the artist's sense to shape the material.

Planks of wood are said to be quarter-sawn when the growth rings are more or less at right angles to the thickness. If the growth rings are more parallel to the width, then the plank is said to be slab-cut. While slab-cut planks are seasoning, they tend to cup in a direction so as to "straighten" the growth rings.

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