Wood You Believe - About Rick Urban

Wood You Believe^tm is the trademark I registered when I began work as a woodturner in 2002. I work almost exclusively with rescued hardwoods native to the southeastern U.S. Until 2010 I lived and worked in Cohutta, Georia. Cohutta is from the Cherokee expression Ga-hu-ta-yi, which means, "place of shed roof on poles." The poles of the shed are the mountains on the southern outer rim of the Cohutta Wilderness Area in the Cherokee National Forest, and they "hold up" the sky, or the roof of the shed. In 2010 I traded the north Georgia and Tennessee mountains for the Atlantic coast of north Florida, specifically Flagler Beach.

Artist Statement. While I sometimes experiment with materials, shapes, and color or explore an idea or whimsical theme, I most often work with simple classical forms and natural materials to showcase what nature provides in the rich color and intricate figure of wood. Even common wood with no reputation for beauty may reveal subtle surprises with a closer look. If I can enhance or awaken your awareness of the wonders of the wood around you I will have achieved something worthwhile.

I like few things more than to take a piece of wood that looks terrible...
and transform it into something of beauty.

How did it all get started?

Humble Beginnings! I turned my first bowl in the ‘50’s. Hardly a masterpiece, it was a laminated maple bowl I turned in

shop class for my mother. I got the bowl back when she passed on, and while it didn’t weather the decades too well it still oversees my current work from a shelf in my shop.

I’ve had a lifelong love affair with wood but allowed education and a couple of careers to interfere with any serious pursuit for 35 years, so I’ve only been turning with a passion since I left the Texas Hill Country in 2002 for Georgia and, now, Florida.

Here's my shop (excuse me… studio) in Georgia. My surroundings are considerably smaller since my move to Florida, but the beach is a whole lot closer!

If I am considered an artist,
it is only because I am privileged
to reveal what is around us every day.

Where do I get my wood?

I am often asked where I get my wood. The first line of my normal response is that "It finds me now."

Disclaimer. I try to avoid doing anything that would encourage cutting trees just so I can have wood to turn.

Firewood. When I first moved here I started with the wood in the firewood pile that came with the house I bought, but I needed a better source.

Ads. I soon had more than I could handle after placing a couple of ads in the regional free classified traders. In fact, the first tree I got was a 70 foot white oak monster from Calhoun, Georgia. It had fallen across three back yards during a violent storm in 2002 and took several trips with my pickup and trailer. Before the job was done I had blown two tires on my trailer and uncovered a car. As it turned out I had tackled more that I should have to be working alone with just a manual crane on my trailer. This experience would later join with a similar retrieval of a red oak from Eastridge, Tennessee to convince me I could no longer think of myself as a latter day Paul Buyan without a blue ox.

The Dump. Fortunately I live in an area that does not offer garbage pickup. (What? What has that got to do with it? Please read on.) That means I have to take my garbage to the transfer station where it is transported from the compactors to the land fill. That also happens to be where county residents take their trees to allow them to be shredded into mulch for county residents. (So, you're starting to see where this is going.) When I take my trash I see what's available. My wife thinks I'm a scavenger, and she is probably correct, but I've found some very nice cherry, maple, sycamore, blackheart poplar, and other turning stock there. Let's not forget, too, the added bonus that it's only two miles from home and I've not yet blown another tire on my trailer.

Get Lucky. Every now and then even I get lucky. An acquaintance was clearing some land that included some cherry trees destined for the pulp mill. I was able to get these at a reasonable cost including the load.

Make the Best of a Bad Situation. Though I do not encourage cutting trees, they will be felled for other reasons. If that's the case anyway, I would certainly prefer to give them a second life if I can. This walnut was taken out in favor of a parking lot across from the Wal-Mart in Calhoun, Georgia.

My work is a joint venture with nature,
and my part is clearly minor.

And here's the team...

Pitty the poor burglar that trips over my Security Team.

I do not believe beauty
is dependent on perfection.

I am much less concerned with producing a technically perfect piece than I am with finishing something with a pleasing form and finish that showcases what already exists in nature to be appreciated. If the shape is pleasing it is probably not new but only reminiscent of something we’ve seen before… the spiral of a chambered nautilus… the curve of a rainbow… the outline of a poppy.

Nothing gets past my Production Control Chief.

My Shipping Clerk really gets into his work.

My Housekeeping and Maintenance Inspector makes sure everything is spotless.