Listening to the Wood: Bruce Edmundson’s Burl-to-Sculpture Transformations

Listening to the Wood: Bruce Edmundson’s Burl-to-Sculpture Transformations

Bruce Edmundson’s elegant wood sculptures begin as bumps on a log, aka burls, so when he learns I’ve got a felled, super bumpy big leaf maple tree at my place, he’s happy to take a look. He’s brought along his friend Kent Mjolness, and they eagerly circle the massive, hollow trunk sections. There are plenty of visible burls, which are actually rounded growths formed when a tree is under stress from an injury, virus or fungus. I tell them I considered turning the maple into firewood. I detect some shudders. Burl wood has unusual texture, colour and figure (or appearance). Birdseye, resembling tiny...