James Edward Barnes

This Blue Ridge Mountain woodturner starts with woods native to Southwestern Virginia and inlays the most exotic woods of the world. I look for stumps, burls, or gnarled trees that have been influenced by the passage of time. A block of wood is bolted to a lathe and the shape is cut as it spins. A hole is drilled in the center and a tool of my design cuts out the inner space. This requires blind cuts where feeling has to substitute for vision. I like the way it feels when the tool shears long ribbons of wood and makes spaghetti-like piles on the floor, the lathe and me. My specific vision is in the design, ancient forms with a modern twist. Mother nature brings her part, the beauty of wood figure. My part is to use the vessel as a canvass – to inlay designs and introduce elements that nature never intended. The challenge of producing something uniquely distinctive is the most satisfying. My original creation is wood cloisonné, where metal wire is wrapped around the inlays. A Pratt Institute design graduate, I did not choose to be an artist, it chose me. I have drawn, painted and created all of my life. I would not be surprised to see petroglyphs in my mother’s womb.