Adam Gorajek with Heartwood Creative Woodworking, Sun Shower (ART, OBJECTS 2022)

Photos:

Sarah Wilson

I started woodworking classes as a way to relax. I enjoy the extended periods of focus, punctuated by problem solving and creativity. Although not a spontaneous person, woodworking has helped me see opportunities in problems or mistakes. This piece is a good example of that opportunism. The original idea for this project was a vanity basin. My research led me to Huon Pine due to its natural water resistance and history in boat building. I set out to make the basin from laminated and coopered segments, not to save time (it didn’t!) but for the pleasure of designing and making the jigs that would shape and cut the segments to fit perfectly together. Stuart has been teaching me for years and just before the pieces were joined, he suggested that an extension of the design could lead to a piece more worthy of contemplation as the basin, though technically impressive, was shaping up to be “underwhelming”. At the time Carol was experimenting with different techniques to texture and finish timber so the conversation with Stuart, and the inspiration from Carol, put this work on a new path. We call the final piece “Sun Shower”. The many coats of blonde shellac bringing out the sun in the Huon bowl. The ebonised and textured Victorian Ash base evoking the rain and clouds. I enjoy the combination of opposites in sun showers. Carol, Stuart and I are in many ways opposites too and I’m glad we could harness that in this piece, which will also be our last together. Their final hours of work on it were among the last at Heartwood Creative Woodworking Sydney, a place for creating and learning that has given joy to hundreds of woodworkers over many years.

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