Hemlock Canyons

Description

Mike Irolla
Born 1974, Irvington, New York
Lives and works in Marquette, Michigan
Hemlock Canyons
2001
Hemlock
Gift of Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen, 2002/2.147

Some contemporary woodturners have experimented with fire as a finishing process, in place of refining techniques like sanding and staining. Fire was both artistic and symbolic in Todd Hoyer’s Ringed series (see object 2002/2.145), which was created as a response to Hoyer’s painful divorce from his wife and her subsequent death.

Mike Irolla turns whole logs in order to retain the natural edges of the wood. Fire then becomes the finishing element for his work, leaving a charred black surface in place of paint.

(Out of the Ordinary, 2010)
March 28, 2009
Michigan artist Mike Irolla, like the other woodturners whose work is displayed here, is representative of a new movement in American woodturning. These artists have developed a stunning mastery of lathe work and especially creative and expressive approaches to the medium of wood. Irolla is especially interested in exploiting the aesthetic qualities of the wood itself. While many other woodturners remove the bark as one of their very first steps, Irolla makes the bark the centerpiece of his work. Using fire as a finishing element to texture and color the surface, he allows the residual bark to suggest the natural formations of rock cliffs or the canyons referred to in the title.