Supple Patterns Illuminate Daring Volumes in Oliver Chalk’s Refined Picket Vessels

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Element of a vessel from the ‘Pathways’ sequence. All photos © Oliver Chalk, shared with permission

Hewn from stable hunks of discovered timber, Oliver Chalk’s vessels (beforehand) embrace the pure grain and gradients of various kinds of wooden to disclose voluminous practical sculptures. Utilizing remnants of fallen timber like ash, cypress, maple, and cherry, Chalk hand-carves daring ribs and contours redolent of contours on topographic maps. He takes cues from the distinctive traits of every piece of wooden, responding to the specimen’s distinctive texture, hardness, hue, and innate patterns. Maple burl, for instance, which is a development within the tree’s bark that creates dense, swirling, eye-like motifs, led to a sublime piece peppered with small holes and knots.

Chalk has been working with timber for about three years, educating himself varied strategies and experimenting with various kinds of wooden. He has simply been awarded funding from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Belief—an initiative that helps British craftspeople via schooling and apprenticeships—to discover new terrain: bronze. This fall, he embarks on a coaching program at SPACER with artist and foundry supervisor Stephen Melton to study bronze casting and patinating strategies to recreate his thrown vessels in metallic.

Chalk’s work is included within the group exhibition Earth Supplies at Gallery 57 in Arundel, West Sussex, via June 10 and Spring Assortment ’23 at The Hannah Peschar Sculpture Backyard in Ockley, Surrey. Discover extra on his web site and on Instagram.

 

Element of a vessel from the ‘Earth Supplies’ sequence

‘Earth Supplies’ assortment

Warped maple burl vessel

Charred floor on cypress

Cypress vessel in progress

Left: Sycamore vessel. Proper: Element of textured ash vessel

Vessels “One” and “Two” within the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Backyard Spring/Summer season 2023 assortment

Cherry vessel

Ash vessel

Element of vessel “One” within the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Backyard Spring/Summer season 2023 assortment

Roughing out a big cypress vessel

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