Dean has had a lifelong enjoyment of trees. He says, “the ability of wood to be shaped, cut, sanded, carved and colored has and continues to be my inspiration”.
The smell of black walnut or Alaskan yellow cedar being turned in the studio, the ease at which shavings peel from green apple wood, the unveiling of figure and spalt from what yesterday was an old rotting tree stump are what fills Dean’s senses and drives his creative process. More often than not he mounts a chunk of wood on the lathe, starts to turn and lets the wood tell him what it will be as he follows the figure, color, or natural “flaws” in the piece.
Dean says, “the touch, shape, fit and finish entice all the senses.”