In John Berger's skilled hands, wood has become a fine art medium. In his home studio, Berger produces remarkably graceful, finely executed and beauti...
read full bio
In John Berger's skilled hands, wood has become a fine art medium. In his home studio, Berger produces remarkably graceful, finely executed and beautiful wooden pots that go far beyond the utilitarian functions of a storage vessel. In fact, Berger's wooden works are almost a type of canvas that he leaves unadorned in their natural glory or expressively finishes with a wide range of his self-made wood dyes and oils, and intricate carved patterns.
In college, he began to make wood furniture for his own home, and others began asking him for pieces. In 1999, this eventually led to his deciding to focus full-time on production of carved pots and other wooden vessels. Recently, he has focused on extremely complex, time consuming "segmented pieces" composed of up to 150 pieces of wood glued together. Each layer is "turned" on a wood lathe before another layer is added. Eventually, the piece is finely sanded and finished, providing a rich tapestry of grains and tones.
hide full bio