Tom Rauschke
From the beginning my Work has been about trees. The first attraction was to the wood itself; in its raw form, “tree parts”. I loved all of it, the color, the grain, the knots, the bark, and even the cracks. For me it was an obvious choice, and it grew everywhere around me. All different types, most of it free, and ready to work. All I had to do is figure out a way to remove the parts that I didn’t want. That’s where tools and techniques come in.
The earliest pieces were experiments in transforming a rough, natural tree trunk into a smooth, elegant form. To do this I used a lathe, a belt sander, a drill press, saws, and sandpaper. While decidedly low-tech, I have no aversion to new tools and techniques, and have since added a band saw and a flexible shaft grinder. With each additional tool, new possibilities open up.
An early addition to my wood pieces was the incorporation of my wife Kaaren Wiken’s finely detailed embroideries. These colorful works of Fiber Art brought another level of meaning to my works, and the collaboration with my wife has taken us in directions we never would have imagined separately. Having come of age during the American Crafts Movement, we’ve always believed that the true test of an artist’s ability is what they can do with their own hands. Between the two of us we do the whole process, from envisioning it before hand, to sweeping up after, and everything in between; our hands, our hearts. One of my favorite occupations is turning wood on a lathe, an act I call “bringing order out of chaos”. Taking a crude irregular tree trunk and spinning it can be a death-defying event, but being able to shape it into a smooth, symmetrical form is still magical. It also allows me to remove most of the wood, leaving only a thin shell, which can then be carefully cut using a fret, or jeweler’s saw. In this way I am able to cut fine-details out of the side of a bowl shape. New doors open.
Once past how to make something, you come to the question of why to make something. A continuously recurring theme in my work has been the form and shape of a tree, standing alone, or in a grouping. A tree becomes a tree; a part of the Forest regenerates a forest. The Art we choose to make is influenced by where we live, an area of Wisconsin known as the Kettle Moraine. Oak forests and rolling prairies ride atop hills pushed up by the last Ice Age, and then reappear as the pattern cut on the edge of an oak bowl. We also make pieces that explore subjects we’re interested in. Native birds, turtles, fish, and insects have all contributed to the forms found in our work.
In a way what we do is make imagination aids, sculptural assistance to help the mind see something different, or just differently. When we are able to express some of our awe of this amazing universe, we feel most successful.