Real materials - 8
P. Allin's carving of Escher's
"Sky & Water I"

Guest artist Phil Allin is an avid woodcarver. He's done a number of pieces based on M. C. Escher's tessellations and trick-perspective pieces. Here, we have Allin's woodcarving based on Escher's "Sky and Water I" (1938).

Allin tells us:
"The background in this piece is half walnut and half basswood. Then I glued the contrasting figures (bandsawed to shape) on top. So the relief and detail increases toward the top and bottom of the design. I did most of the work as part of an evening woodcarving class I took during the 1970's. The class was taken mostly to set aside time for the project. The instructor gave little instruction - and I had been carving and whittling since a teenager.

Most of my basswood pieces are built-up from 1 inch x 4 inch boards with hardwood strips across the back. Otherwise they would begin to warp as wood is carved off the frontside."