stephen Spaeth

Spirited Wood Vol. 2

A gestural expression of times struggle. Each sculptural frame encompasses a physical struggle against time and the material.

These ‘Frame Breakers’ are crafted with air dried Walnut and Canary wood for the outer and inner bits bringing light and dark together. Using several different species of wood (Cypress, Sassafras and Hackberry) as the inlay tail that form the gestural bends.

Each frame starts the same way, 4 sides cut to length and secured together. When the frames are assembled and the inlay tail is ready it's placed inside a steam box. Surrounding it with steam the lignin's in the woods become pliable. When it reaches temperature it’s pulled from the box and then the clock starts. For less than a minute the steamed wood will be pliable. While the clock is ticking the frame is braced and the tail is bent and twisted. In this short period of time or long depending on how it’s measured, instinct and feeling take over, slipping into a TEE (Time Expansion Experience) where time takes on a different pace. A dance of sorts unfolds and the moment slows becoming a give and take with the material as the ‘clock’ ticks away.

Questions race through the mind. Will it curve this way, will it hold that bend, can it be pushed farther, will it break or will it take on a new shape it’s never known before? Within seconds the questions and answers exist simultaneously before collapsing upon themselves into the known as the wood takes on its new shape. The wood moves and bends for a gesture of the moment, the twists and turns the wood takes expresses the feeling and struggle with the limited time it is pliable.

The process always starts in a semi-state of uncertainty. The end shape won’t be known until the process is started and it is bent, a catalyst ignites a moment and the wood moves into a state of pliability, a resonating frequency. The wood starts as a strip but in the end can be twisted and bent into a gestural expression unique to each.

Much like drawing the figure on paper, the spirit of the wood comes alive with each swoosh, twist and twirl through space and time.

Spirited Wood Vol. 1 on display during 2025’s Fall Brewery Art walk

Spirited Wood Vol. 2 on display during 2026’s Spring Brewery Art walk

Spirited Wood Vol. 2