Bowl in walnut and walnut burl

A burl is a tree’s reaction to an injury, such as an insect infestation fended off, or damage from an impact. It’s essentially scar tissue. On a living tree, it looks like a knob or a tumor, usually on the trunk near the ground. In wood material, it’s great, because the fibers get all twisted up together, making an intricate and beautiful texture. In this bowl, I built a contrast between the straight grain of a typical hunk of American black walnut, and accented it with the dynamic texture of walnut burl in two areas.

This bowl was sold to an Omaha collector in the 2016 benefit auction at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Thank you for supporting the programming this important institution offers.