'A Walk Among Trees'

East Fork Gallery presents "A Walk Among Trees" featuring the artistic wood designs of Frank Temple. The show will run through Nov. 15 with an artist reception at the gallery 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 14.

Describing himself as a functional wood artisan, Temple has considered wood a passion of his for many years. Always in search of a new burl to carve and unveil its inner beauty, Temple still gets excited about starting each new project.

Temple's work is functional as he creates bowls, mirrors, walking sticks and staffs as well as dream catchers and even refillable pens and pen holders. For his pen holders he collects sticks and branches from various trees, stripping away the bark to reveal the wood beneath. He then drills a hole in the center and inserts a ball point ink refill.

For the wood bowls and burl frames for mirrors, after removing the bark, he leaves the edges in their natural state.

"The patterns reveal themselves to me," Temple said. "I flow with the shaping of the wood, working with the changing patterns as they become visible until another piece has unveiled itself, showing off its unique pattern and brilliant hues."

Temple's keen eye for the exterior of burls lets him know instinctively what will be hidden beneath the surface, but it isn't until he starts his smoothing process that Mother Nature's design truly reveals the extent of its hidden beauty.

Each piece is then finished to museum quality, signed and numbered. The wood grain catches the light differently at different angles, showing a dynamic range of color, depth and hue.

"I find carving a burl similar in feeling to opening a special present; the removal of the bark and working of the wood, akin to opening the wrapping, and the finished product, I view as the gift," Temple said. "With proper care, this gift will last for generations to come.

"A burl is a dome shaped growth on the trunk of a tree, caused by either fungi and/or genetics. One outstanding characteristic of burl is varied patterns present in the wood grain. Some of those patterns are birdseye, quilted, wavy or splated. No two are the same," he explained.

Temple works in a variety of hard woods, including maple, oak, Lombardi poplar and aspen. He is always looking for another piece, sometimes he has to buy burls but he finds a lot of his own.

"All hardwood trees have flat leaves, all soft woods have needles," Temple said. "Even though aspen is relatively soft, almost as soft as pine, it has flat leaves and is considered a hardwood."

Stop at the East Fork Gallery in The Record-Courier Center, 1503 Highway 395, Gardnerville, to see Temple's work. For more information, call 782-7629.