April 3, 2002
Lyle Jamieson turns blocks of wood into works of art
Traverse City artist crafts human torsos using innovative techniques and tools
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
For Lyle Jamieson, every day is Saturday.
Whether turning wood down in his basement studio, teaching around the country or writing articles on different aspects of woodturning, he is a happy man.
"I get paid to have fun and meet tremendous people all over the world," said Jamieson, who has been woodturning for 15 years. "I am always looking for some way to express myself that is unique and I tell my students they have to spend time away from the lathe and bring some passion in."
Over the past five years Jamieson's work has metamorphosed into representations of the human female torsos. The textures and grains of wood, which he sees as a living medium, bring his forms to life and naturally define and enhance the contours of the body.
"I orient the grain to pick up the rounded parts of the figure," said Jamieson, who uses mostly local wood for his work, starting from wet green wood he dries himself.
"These pieces are hollow, the walls so thin that they can move with changes in the atmosphere. That's why they still will look good 100 years from now."
Jamieson's work with human forms is revolutionary in the field and he is unaware of any other woodturner pursuing this angle.
"Lyle has created a national reputation for his work," said Larry Skendzel of Traverse City, a woodturner for the past ten years and a fellow member of the Northwest Michigan Woodturners.
The field of woodturning is rooted in an ancient craft but in the past few decades many turners have transformed their work it into an art form. They are moving away from the strictly utilitarian forms, such as bowls, into creative art that incorporates a myriad of form, shapes, function and color.
"Following this new direction, Lyle has taken it to the point of using the wood to find the form in it," Skendzel noted.
Jamieson's creative leap happened on a trip home from a woodturning seminar in Tennessee. With a few hours free, Jamieson and his wife stopped at the Cleveland Art Museum, part of his ongoing commitment to arts.
He saw a crudely fashioned, Y-shaped ancient form on display and had the proverbial flash. This sparked a whole new direction for his work and he immersed himself in a quest to create techniques for creating multi-axis forms.
While a bowl or other vessel has just one axis, a representation of the human body has three or more. His year of trial and error resulted in forms that looked more and more human.
To do this, Jamieson had to invent a new tool that made the task not only possible but even easy. The Jamieson Hollow Form Turning System soon was perfected and transformed the process of woodturning from an arduous, dangerous struggle requiring brute strength into a pleasant endeavor.
"The old way was dangerous and very, very hard work and it took years to learn to do it safely," said Jamieson, who also uses and markets a laser to measure the wood's thickness. "I took a bunch of ideas and put them together into my Turning System and now a ten-year-old kid could do it."
Once the inside of a block of wood is turned and hollowed, Jamieson hand carves the outside using a variety of different tools. He also smoothes on coat after coat to bring out the grain and beauty of the wood. His pieces are between two and three feet tall and each one takes up to three months to produce.
Working for years in a variety of businesses, including 14 years for the Traverse City Record-Eagle, Jamieson always had his woodworking as a creative outlet. His father, a pattern maker in Detroit, had a home-based shop and there he taught his son to love both the craft and medium.
"Woodworking was really an escape, I could disappear into the shop and all the problems would disappear for a few hours," said Jamieson, who has a business degree from Michigan State University. "I've always had a shop of my own, even if it has been a shed."
A full-time artist for the past two years, he relishes his medium and the creative journey his is on.
"Wood is very warm, alive, a breathing living material," he said. "I haven't even begun to explore all the possibilities. I am still stretching to find the perfect shape."