Energy Wood
Lamp Cut from One Piece of Lumber
American Ash trees are currently under attack by invasive species emerald ash borers. Many Ash trees were killed and removed, millions of Ash logs were piled in lumberyards. There is a need to find ways to use these extra lumbers. I take the challenge to use them to create functional sculptural work, named Lumber Lamp (or Energy Wood). I made them by band sawing one piece of Ash lumber and steam bending the strips to form sculptural objects that contain space and light. These strips transform the lumber into a dynamic mechanism, a lumber that delivers lights as well as visual art. I also uses the same concept and band saw method to create large scale tree-shaped sculptures from lumber and bamboo for gallery spaces. The fiber reaches out from square-shaped lumber to express their life energy and remind us their past life story and where the lumbers are from.