Wood sculptures that are years in the making
A magnificent collection of fine wood furnishings is currently on display on Chattanooga’s North Shore, at the In-Town Gallery. Roger Harvey combines a lifetime of woodworking experience with local lumber, innovative processes, and lots of patience. The resulting pieces are elegant marriages of form and function.
Harvey began his career as an engineering student at the University of Texas, where he discovered the arts and crafts center of the student union. He became interested in pottery, and got a part time job at the union.
“I was losing interest in engineering,” he says, “so I switched to art and later became the director of the craft center. I wound up there really focusing on pottery—I took 11 semesters of pottery classes.”
After college, he lived in Cape Cod for 11 years, during which time he worked with a friend who was a goldsmith. He pursued jewelry making, moving to Boston and opening a custom jewelry store.
After eight years of operation, and being held up a gunpoint a few times, he took an opportunity to sell his store. He moved to Chattanooga, and began working for his brother, who had opened a jewelry factory.
His brother sold the company, but Harvey stayed on, and was in the business for more than 27 years before retiring. In 2007, he took a pottery course at Chattanooga State and was inspired to build a studio and resume his practice. He made pottery for several years, and became a member of the In-Town Gallery.
He has always done woodworking on the side, but in recent years it has become his primary medium. “When I would get tired of something, I always found a way to move to something else. I really enjoy the early parts, where you’re learning really fast and being very creative—and I’m very happy with wood for now,” he explains.
“I expect to be doing this for a while,” he continues. “I work mostly with found wood—I find things on Craigslist, or through tree cutting companies. I keep an eye out for interesting things. Most of what I do is made with wood that would be firewood otherwise—it’s amazing what we burn.”
Right now Harvey is mostly turning pieces on a lathe, a process that requires a lot of patience.
“One of my favorite species to work with is hackberry, which is a tree that most people want to get rid of,” he says. “It’s not very interesting when you cut it—it has a nice background grain, but it is a very light colored wood—but if you take log of it, seal the end of it, and stand it up outside for a few months, the organisms that cause it to rot get into the wood, stain it, and cause really beautiful patterns. Maple and pecan also work well for that process. I will sometimes enhance the color of the grain with stain, or if a piece is really bland I will paint on it.”
Some of the pieces of wood he uses take more than a year to prepare before the crafting process begins. The goal is to keep the moisture in the wood, to make it much easier to turn on a lathe—the easiest piece of wood to turn is a fresh-cut tree.
“It works really well,” he says, “it has so much water in it that it actually sprays water out when you cut it.”
As the wood dries, it shrinks and warps. He compensates for this by making each piece thicker than the final product will be, and then slowly drying it for a period depending on the size and thickness—from a few months to six months.
He soaks the wood in alcohol right after turning it, which displaces some of the water—then he wraps it in a paper bag, creating an atmosphere around the piece that gradually lets the moisture out, making it less likely to crack.
Once the wood is dry, he puts it back on the lathe for the final turning. After sanding and polishing, he adds a coat of polyurethane, or a combination of linseed oil and beeswax for food-grade dishes.
“It is a long process, and can take a few years to turn a log into a finished piece.”
Harvey also fabricates a variety of small furniture, including jewelry boxes, clocks, mirrors, stools, and music stands. His work can be found at In-Town Gallery, and he is available for commissions. See more of his work at intowngallery.com/roger-harvey