Catt(laya). Jeff Ware, artist
Sculptor Jeff Ware was living in Key West when he attended an exhibit titled With the Grain at The Studios of Key West (TSKW) in 2019. That night, a literal dream of creating a wooden sculpture to honor his father set him on course to become an artist himself. “I felt a sense of ‘knowing’ that I could create that kind of woodwork,” he says. He completed his “dream” project, and it now resides on the rooftop gathering space at TSKW. Today, Ware has studios in both Key West and Asheville.
After salvaging wood, by chance or through friends, Ware starts a piece with an open mind. “Each piece can evolve quite dramatically as I work on it,” he says, adding that he often provides those who buy his sculptures with a picture of what the wood looked like at the start. “Quite often it blows their mind. If I feel that I have the right piece, I will introduce a man-made element to add a visual and material contrast to the organic nature of the wood itself.”
His process involves drying out the wood, removing rotten or insect-damaged bits and thoroughly investigating any cracks or holes. “After that stage, I’m usually left with the basic shape of the piece,” he says. “From there, it’s just following my gut feeling, letting the wood ‘talk to me’ until I feel that I’ve created something to be proud of.” At the end of each working day, he takes pictures of progress on the piece. “Usually these 2D images reveal creative paths that I can investigate the next time I work on the piece,” he says. The final touch includes “labor-intensive hand-sanding of the work to achieve a silky smooth finish, moving from 80-grit sandpaper through to 600-grit.”
Hidden Nail. Jeff Ware, artist
Ware has had two solo shows in Key West, in 2022 and in February of this year, that were sold-out successes. He also works on commission, and will show his work by appointment.
“I like to have my sculptures look as unstructured and free-flowing as possible,” he says. “I like them to look sensuous and curvilinear, to invite the viewer to reach out and touch the finished piece.”
To learn more, visit JeffsWoodSculptures.com. Jeff Ware’s work will be exhibited at Haw Creek Forge and Friends Open House on Friday, December 1, from 4–8 p.m. Haw Creek Forge is at The Mill at Riverside, 2000 Riverside Drive, #6, Asheville.
