vortex series

Vortex Series embodies all of the qualities that make Gary’s work so distinctive. He has taken the ravaged remnant of an ancient forest giant and revealed the depth of grain and color that is hidden within. If you follow the curve of the rim, you are following the same curve that bent around the span of the standing tree. It is a touching reference to a great living organism that stood for centuries. Tracking underneath the rim is the lighter sapwood, the part of the tree that was still growing and carrying life-bringing sap to every limb. The inner vessel is the darker heartwood, harder and stronger, that supported the tree. We have the whole life of the tree exposed before us, the vortex of life. These pieces are a reverent homage to nature, to ancient life and to Gary’s own place within it.
Terry Martin, from the ICONS catalogue