Bryce Canyon Floor Lamp

I just posted a blog entry about one of my two entries to the Living With Crafts exhibition, where you can read about my table lamp made with a Banksia Seed Pod. The second piece in the exhibit is the one pictured on the right. It is made with a fantastic piece of Redwood Burl, combined with the lighter color parts made of Sugar Maple. The burl parts came from a single thick plank of Redwood, and the color and grain patterns are densely packed with swirls and eyes. The Maple is not as wildly dramatic, but has an interesting side story. It came from a tree I cut down when I built our home 30 years ago, and I cut the planks with a chain saw mill. One of those boards has been buried in the back of my wood shed for all these years, and finally resurfaced this winter, in time to become a part of this project.

The title of the piece is Bryce Canyon Floor Lamp, because for me it is loosely reminiscent of the bizarre natural stone forms in Bryce Canyon National Monunment in Utah. At the bottom of this post is a photo from Bryce, where you can perhaps see the influence. It is one of my favorite places on earth, almost seems impossible that such a place could be formed naturally.

There are other influences that relate to this form. You could say it looks a bit like a sand castle dribble-tower. It also looks a bit like one of the spires of Gaudi's cathedral in Barcelona, a form and an architectural marvel I have always felt attached to. And finally, I connect this floor lamp with a stone fountain made by Louis Pomerantz that I have been lusting after. In any case, this idea of rounded shapes piled up on top of one another is clearly a new aesthetic for me, that I think I will be exploring more in the future. I am most curious to hear comments from you if you have thoughts to share.