Local Artist

Chuck Quibell - Turned Wood Vessels

Born and raised in Fresno and at Huntington Lake in the Sierra Nevada, I earned a B.A. in botany at Pomona College [1958], and a Ph.D. in botany at U.C. Berkeley [1972].

Following this I spent nearly thirty years teaching botany, including wood anatomy, at Sonoma State [1970-1999] before branching out into woodworking. I now, when not traveling or backpacking/fishing in the Sierra, spend essentially full time turning - mostly native woods - into useful and/or decorative objects.

I belong to three woodworking and craft organizations, presently or until recently serving on the Boards of each in some capacity: The Sonoma County Woodworkers¹ Association [SCWA], which puts on the annual "Artistry in Wood" each year at the County Museum; The Wine Country Woodturners [WCW]; and The Baulines Craft Guild [BCG], the pre-eminent craft guild of northern California in existence since 1972.

I was awarded the top prize for turning ["Award of Excellence"] at each of the last two "Artistry in Wood" shows, and after many exhibitions and sales with the Baulines Craft Guild, I was made "Master Craftsman" last year.

My studio is a large, wood-filled, metal building set below an adobe and redwood, half-buried, solar-powered octagonal home which my father and I build from 1975-1980. In between are a row of olive trees and a small vineyard from which we make a Bordeaux-style red wine and an 'extra virgin' oil.

In my turning, I strive for clean, simple lines ­ often influenced by the oriental bowls which habitually I study and photograph in the museums of the world. I have recently been working on details of edges and bases and have developed what I call a "secondary lift" in my decorative bowls which sets them off from whatever they rest on by elevating their lower edges above that surface. I also believe in making the outer wood surface the 'finish' by polishing each piece to 2,000 or 2,500 grit.

I then treat the finished surfaces of my utilitarian pieces with an edible grade walnut oil and my decorative ones with either tung oil or a wipe-on polyurethane followed by a paste wax. I sometimes, however, leave the polished piece entirely UN-finished ­ to allow a direct contact with the wood surface. This elemental contact with a highly polished wood surface is something we too rarely experience but it is, I believe, one of the reasons we love the 'feel of wood.'

Contact Information: Chuck Quibell 4682 Hidden Oaks Rd. Santa Rosa, CA 95404 Email: quibell@sonic.net Phone: 707-575-5537

© copyright 2010 - all rights to the images are retained by the artist