Seeds

Well to begin I had better explain myself so I can figure out exactly what I'm up to here.  The intent of this blog is to share thoughts and ideas about art, spirituality, things that matter, and craft (particularly around woodworking.)  I honestly feel sheepish doing this.  I've been sitting here at the computer for about and hour now trying to figure out this whole blogging thing out.  But I'm motivated enough to take the time and let you know what I'm up to.

Since becoming a daddy in 2012 I've been thinking more and more about family.  The family is where we learn the most, for better or worse.  As I've grown from being a son and brother into a husband and daddy I've seen my families dynamic change.  My brother sister and I are adults with kids.  That makes my parents grandparents and my grandparents great grandparents.  And then I realized that mom and dad and grandma's and grandpa's have been around a while and are going to die sooner or later.  They'll be gone and I had better write a eulogy.  Well I'm not much of a writer.  So what is to be done?  Well I'll tell you what I am good at, changing a tree into fine furnishings; woodworking.  This generated an idea I've come to call Heritage Trees.

What's a Heritage Tree in a single sentence?  It is a collection of objects made from a single tree that commemorate the legacy of a life or family.  I've begun the idea with my mom's side of the family, the Stangeland's.  I've taken a beautiful black walnut tree from their lake home to use.  The question then becomes, what do I make?  I'm still working on that, but after interviewing my grandparents it looks like there's definitely going to be a coffee table and other objects inspired by our ancestral roots in Norway, Germany and Holland (more on this later).


I feel I've left a lot hanging in space on this first post, but that's good, there will be plenty to write about later.  In the mean-time, here's a short video of me in studio getting to work on the Stangeland Heritage Tree.  Enjoy.