... from Bob Gilmour ... the artist ...

I am a sculptural artist based near Port Douglas in Far North Queensland, Australia.

My preferred medium is wood, although I also dabble in stone and bone ... and some other natural materials such as textiles.

I'm mostly into curvaceous flowing lines and smooth complex surfaces. And, although I do like to mix in the odd hard corner to juxtapose all the softness, my motivation is in creation of forms which are a blend of sensuous curves ... a joy to observe ... and which invite touch.

One aspect of my work is a range of functional kitchen and home-wares ... a legacy to my interest in cooking and presentation of food. The utensils are born of my philosophy that even mundane every-day 'work' items should have some art-value ... and look and feel good. Of course, they should also work ... which I believe mine do excellently. This website is a showcase of my functional work.

My non-functional interests lie in the creation of flowing curvy complex surfaces as pure sculptural pieces and 'semi' useable display works such as bowls and centrepieces. I really like to heave a 50 or so kg (100+ pound) block of tree-trunk onto the carving bench and begin swiping away the exterior wood ... looking to uncover the form within. Sometimes I have a preconception of the final piece, although generally I don't ... except for the basic decisions like 'this will be a bowl' or 'this will be a free-form sculptural piece'. I think that attempting to plan the final appearance of a work limits success and is more likely to result in failure if the shapes don't work ...

My work is labour-intensive. I take my finishes to a very high level and I attend to the drying of the wood from the wet (green) stage in which I shape it through to the kiln post-dried stage at which I do the final finishing. It can take a year or so from the time I initially rough-shape a piece until I complete the finishing and sign it off. It goes without saying that I have a lot of rough-shaped bowls and pieces of sculpture sitting around the house in various stages of air-drying, awaiting their time to enter the kiln. That's a good process, because it allows me to enjoy viewing my own work for a while until it comes time to liberate it off to a new home.

I live in a rural environment ... and have been an outdoors person all my life. I'm inspired by the outdoors ... and I believe the organic nature of my surroundings probably does infiltrate my creative process ... although I don't get caught up in all that stuff. Almost everything in nature consists of complex twisting curves and undulative forms. I think cuvaceousness is soothing and comforting ... and draws attention ... I certainly sense that from the people who buy my work.

For my larger sculptural work, I use mostly timber reclaimed from tree-falls and rural clearing. I also obtain wood from several tree-lopping contractors who alert me when they have interesting pieces. I don't support wholesale forest clearing operations and would never support cutting down a tree just to get part of it for my own use. I do, however, support the fortunate use of discarded forest timber, from whatever source ... on the basis that it's better to produce something of worth from the resource than see it pushed into piles and burnt. I buy 90% of the wood that I use.

I create a limited number of furniture items also ... again, lot's of curves and smooth shapes. I read recently in a Design/Lifestyle magazine that "furniture is becoming one of the 'new' collectable art-forms". Well, of course, that suits my thinking entirely ... because something as mundane as a coffee table should be a work of art ... permanently on display. I'm hoping to work more towards creating art-furniture in the next couple years.

I'm currently 44 years old ... and I make my living solely from my art-work. I hope you enjoy viewing the functional-ware presented on this website ... and get inspired to purchase something. I am in the process of creating a personal portfolio website of my non-functional work ... so, join my mailing list for notification of when it's up and running. Private commissions are welcomed ... from anywhere in the world.

Thank-you for visiting my website ...

June, 2006 / www.foresttreasures.com