Wood Works

by Janet Tyson February 27, 2013

 

An Annunciation. Of sorts.

An annunciation. Of sorts.

Cloaked in blue tarps, the wood piles behind our house shrink daily as we burn the stuff to stay warm. There is one—our shelter-magazine centerfold stack—which we haven’t touched. Not because it’s so good-looking, but because the wood won’t be ready for another year or two. When you do it on the cheap, as we do, heating with wood calls for pre-planning, constant scrounging, constant cutting and splitting, stacking and moving and restacking. And constant cleaning up. The wood pile next to our sweet little Norwegian stove sheds dirt, dead leaves, wood dust and now and then, insects. The fire-brick hearth needs to be swept at least twice a day—no Carl Andre here—and soot finds its way into surprising places.

Outdoor sculpture and picture-perfect rack of firewood.

Outdoor sculpture and picture-perfect rack of firewood.

But I like the dirt: It has a soothing effect. And I and love to sweep. Plus, this year, I’ve begun calling myself a curator of wood. In the old-fashioned sense of being a keeper and a manager, but also in the new, abusively verbal sense of arranging and producing.

A snowy pile of wood, not quite ready for primetime.

A snowy pile of wood, not quite ready for prime time.

I’ve always loved wood as a medium. Over the past couple of years, though, love has morphed into primal awe. I’m guessing Brancusi felt something of that, too, when he confronted the energy and mystery that’s locked up inside of trees. It started when we began working with our neighbors, Keith and Linda, to split large sections of  trunks from diseased trees that local crews took down and let us haul home.

A back yard view.

A backyard view.

We’re set up in the grassless patch behind our garage—a site I call our wood lot. Once or twice a year, another neighbor lets us use his hydraulic splitter—a battered old machine, gasoline-powered and in need of regular oiling. But it does amazing things to sections of tree trunk, some of which measure 20-or-so inches in diameter.

Logs and rugs in the mud room.

Logs and rugs in the mud room.

The drill is that John and I trundle the logs to the splitter while Keith maneuvers them underneath the lowering wedge that slowly shoves into the log until it breaks apart—all of which may sound violently sexual, but get over it. Keith’s absorption in that process is amazing to behold and, as soon as a section splits, he pushes the pieces aside so that Linda can toss them into evenly portioned piles.

The sweet stove.

The sweet stove.

Sometimes the wood just pops apart with a crack, not unlike a gun shot. Other times, it tears and shreds and sounds as though it’s shrieking. Its resistance to being pulled apart can be extraordinary. But, then, trees are extraordinary. They are just about the most important things around. Anyway, sometimes, when the wood won’t split, we set the piece (traumatized but relatively intact) aside until we can figure out how to use it. Respect the wood.

A gorgeous split piece of wood.

A gorgeous split piece of wood.

Often, when a section comes apart, it reveals something amazing—like a little sprout of a twig that grew for a few years, but then was enveloped by the tree. Perfectly present still, a bit like a fossil albeit not nearly as old.

Found object.

Found object.

And, sometimes, when I see such a thing, I can’t let it go into the pile. So I’ve curated a temporary sculpture installation that’s made in part by the tree and in part by the way the tree was dismantled. I’m not seeing the face of Jesus in a slice of burnt toast but it’s easy to imagine figures by Van Eyck and van der Weyden and Riemenschneider. I set them around the house, organized into little tableaux that may last for a few months before I photograph them, then put them in the stove. That said, if we have enough space, I might be on the cusp of another collection…

A table-top mythical encounter.

A tabletop mythical encounter.

 

 

4 comments

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4 comments

sue February 27, 2013 - 16:34

ridiculous urban person who has obviously never worked outside in her life.

Reply
Janet Tyson February 27, 2013 - 21:58

Yikes! I hope I didn’t make this sound precious. I just enjoy working outdoors and, now that I’m back in Michigan, love having chances to do so. And, yeah, I might over-think it, but the activity keeps me sane.
So watch out–because, once Spring rolls around, I might write about moving dirt.

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Robb March 6, 2013 - 08:42

Lovely. The true nature of Nature comes through
in this wonderful outline. As a faithful follower
of the artist, this new direction is new and refreshing.
A great leap from the early Lego projects
this artist was working on a few years ago.

Reply
Janet Tyson March 6, 2013 - 11:02

Thanks. I still make (tiny) Lego pieces out of recycled Legos from the kids workshop I do at the local library. Mainly, tho, I just enjoy doing things with bits and pieces.

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