Wood Carving Artists

The wooden death dolls of Sulawesi are guardians between life and the afterlife. The figures stand in rows before excavated caves. As a living culture of the Toraja people they have become a tourist attraction. The wooden death dolls of Sulawesi stand as guardians in […]

Joseph Beuys planted 7000 oaks, one for each basalt block he had stacked high in the city of Kassel. The action of this German artist reflected the growing environmental awareness around 1980. The artwork radically expanded the boundaries of sculpture, performance, and social engagement. Joseph

Hans Panschar embodies Sehnsucht in works such as placing a mountain on a small sled. His art is about unfulfillable longing for the unreachable, the impossible. This German wood artist is not internationally famous, but he has a highly recognizable style and thematic approach. Hans

The eyes of Eveline van Duyl look at you from within a forest. Or is it Eveline herself who sees a roe deer or a wolf? Who is watching whom? When we are in nature, are we looking outward—or inward instead? In her series Forest, this

Top 10 African Wood Carving Traditions is not a list of individual masterpieces. It is more of an overview of the ten most important African wood carving traditions, each represented by typical sculptures or masks, to showcase the diversity and ritual significance of these cultures.

Unkei was centuries ahead of European wood carvers. The Japanese sculptor was the very first to introduce expression in the faces of his sculptures. He also already worked under his own name, while the European makers of Christ and Mary sculptures still delivered their work

Katsura Funakoshi brings Japanese to life. His wooden sculptures breathe a serene beauty. With a masterful command of classical Japanese wood carving techniques, he gives his figures a lifelike presence. Also because the marble eyes seem to look at you. Katsura Funakoshi brings Japanese to

Martin Puryear depicts the social ladder as an endless climb. His wooden ladder of almost 11 meters gets narrower the higher it goes. The title Ladder for Booker T. Washington refers to one of the first Black African-American leaders. Puryear himself also comes from the

A Pilgrimage to Val Gardena. This short presentation by Wowwood focuses on five Internationally Renowned Wood Artists born and working in this valley in South-Tirol, Italy. The longer biography’s can be found in the blog on Wowwood. A short presentation by Wowwood. Val Gardena has

The memento mori of Aron Demetz are not classical artworks with skulls, wilted flowers or hourglasses. His wooden sculptures make death itself visible. The heads and bodies of his sculptures show traces of transience and decay. Demetz shows the inevitable end, without passing moral judgment. The memento