Matthew Patrick
Wood
Matthew lives on a smallholding in Cornwall, on the southern edge of Bodmin Moor. Surrounded by woodland, he works mainly with local wood from dead or dying trees, working with the wood to give it new form.
Matthew is an approved AWGB (Association of Woodturners of Great Britain) tutor, but originally trained as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and is particularly interested in the sculptural elements of turned pieces, especially Hollow Forms. Woodturning for him is an art form through which we may bring something from our internal landscape, complete with all its character and imperfections, into a tangible external form that can be shared, and that may just be recognised and resonate with others.
He uses various techniques including Shou Sugi Ban, carving, texturing and colouring and now he has added bleaching to his work.
Matthew works mainly with green or freshly cut wood. Selecting the right piece of wood involves looking at its external features, branches, knots, areas of decay, looking at the grain orientation and looking for any external signs of special grain qualities – figure – such as quilting or chatoyance. Once he has chosen the piece of timber, he sometimes roughs shapes it into a cylinder with a chainsaw or mount it on the wood turning lathe as is. While he may have an idea of what sort of piece he wants to make, he never knows what he will find when he starts to work with the wood, and it always surprises. The finished shape is always born out of a dialogue between turner and wood, and he tries to follow what the wood has to say as opposed to dictate.