REFUGE by artist Mark Cantrell

This sculpture is Sweetgum Root, with a Cottonwood root creature nesting in a Bur Oak acorn cap. The base is red cedar, 11" tall, 12" wide and 10" deep.

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Mark carves and makes creatures that come from the scattered myths, ancient stories, and dark corners of our collective minds.

The wood is the important story here. Each creature he creates is the product of the growth and time of trees and shrubs. All of that conspires with climate, weather, and the accompaniment of beetles, grubs, fungus and parasitic infestation. How the grain of wood records all this drama is an endless fascination.

Mark forages for wood on dog walks and hikes into the outdoors where I lives and where he travels. He has strict rules about only collecting dead and downed wood. If a piece has begun to decompose to the point where it already belongs to the soil and the biota underneath, he leaves it to return to the cycles to which it belongs. He will not disturb or offend the powers that be.

The wood that becomes a creature is Mark's earnest attempt to glorify all that experience of the parent plant, while exalting the spirit that dwells within each piece.

Mark lives and creates in Silver City, New Mexico.

Browse more of Mark's works here: https://cactusgalleryla.com/collections/mark-cantrell-for-cactus-gallery