Ron Layport
Artist in the studio images by Alex Jones
Artwork images by Mark May
The instinct to make objects that address our connection to Earth, and to the creatures with whom we share this planet, is as timely today as it is timeless. Animal effigy figures have inspired utilitarian and ceremonial objects since the earliest forms of human expression. I’m simply bringing my own voice to this ongoing dialog.
My vessels are made from fresh cut local hardwoods--trees felled as a result of storm damage or otherwise destined for landfill, firewood, or the chipper. These vessels are first turned on a lathe, working directly from the log, then sculpted over a period of weeks. An eighty-pound chunk of tree may be reduced to an object weighing less than two pounds by the time it goes to the pedestal.
Works
Video
Master of the Craft - Ron Layport: Metamorphosis
Produced by Jonathan Binzen for Fine Woodworking Magazine
Photography by Mark May
Museum Collections
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Kamm Teapot Foundation, Encino CA
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Racine Art Museum, Racine,WI
Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Wash., DC
The Center for Art in Wood, Philadelphia, PA
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven CT