ARTS AND HUMANITIES: The Aiken Center for the Arts exhibition takes visitors “Into the Woods” | Features

For musical theater lovers, the expression “into the forest” brings to mind the Sondheim/Lapine production from 1986, which combines several plot lines from fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. As the composite narrative unfolds, Cinderella, Jack, Rapunzel and others navigate a magical forest, each consumed by personal goals that are fraught with unexpected consequences.

At the Aiken Center for the Arts, visitors will not find such a forest-ridden mess. The “Into the Woods” exhibition, on view through January 16, invites the public to stroll through a “forest” of masterfully crafted wooden objects by skilled Southern artisans.

The sheer size of some of the pieces is astounding. Take a birch vase by Richard Cale, for example. To carve such a vessel requires a large lathe that is at least 4 feet high. Cale added visual interest to the slender form’s yellow surface by creating branching patterns through broken firing.

Cale’s other two outstanding large-scale pieces required no such manipulation. Cale’s bulbous Red Oak Burl Vase takes advantage of the abnormal growths that sometimes appear on tree trunks. The reddish-brown burl of a red oak is prized for its tight, swirling patterns, and this particular vessel showcases the irregular, knotty surface, whorls, and so-called “eyes” associated with burl. Additionally, Richard Cale’s “Sweet Gum Vase,” another elongated vessel shape, features the ribbon stripes typical of this hardwood native to North and Central America.

No visitor can ignore these monumental free-standing pieces by Richard Cale. This also applies to two wall-hanging creations by Janet and Walt Koertge. The talented pair have worked together for over 40 years and specialize in reclaiming wood from burn piles or harvesting pieces of wood from the forest floor, which they “refine” or refine into decorative and/or functional objects. Two such pieces, both cross-sections of maple burl with “live” or natural edges, adorn the right wall of the gallery. They read like abstract sculptures.

Another particularly impressive creation by Koertge is a shallow bowl carved from the wood of a 200-year-old magnolia tree that was felled during the local 2014 ice storm. On its inner surface it features a pulsating rectangle of darker grain.

Some of the most sophisticated pieces in the current exhibition include furniture pieces designed by John Jones, including a “guitar pick table” whose top resembles a plectrum, the flat tool used to pick a stringed instrument, and a “floating table” whose The top is attached to the bottom frame, making it appear as if it is floating above it rather than sitting on its legs.

After all, no “forest” would be complete without its birdlife; and former decoy maker Eddie Huff has created a wide variety of bird creatures from blocks of wood. The extinct Carolina parakeet poses proudly on a single branch, both the bird and perch were carved by the artist. A mourning dove and a hummingbird share the same vignette, with the former witnessing pollination by the latter.

Huff’s most accomplished work, a three-dimensional sculpture for which he himself supplied a mahogany frame, hangs at one of the two entrances to the main gallery. A bright red cardinal balances on a magnolia branch with two flowers in early bloom. The title “When a Cardinal Appears, an Angel is Near” refers to the popular belief that the bird is evidence of the presence of departed souls.

The almost one hundred wooden craft products are complemented by 17 landscapes by Jessica Graham.