Review

Pine Wood Vase.

Wayne Terhune

10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Phoenix Gallery
919 Massachusetts St.
Lawrence, KS
785.843.0080

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday

Runs through: Artist permanently represented by gallery.

Gallery site: http://www.phoenixgallery.biz

It's a core tenet of this column that "functional art" is not a contradiction in terms. It's a core tenet of life (or it should be) that things regarded as flawed and worthless can be turned into something both useful and attractive.

Wayne Terhune proves both points — and underscores them — with simple, silent elegance.

Terhune's creations, featured at Lawrence's Phoenix Gallery, is made largely from reclaimed (and regionally sourced) wood. His choice of materials is wide-ranging: pine, cherry, silver poplar, walnut, pear, mulberry, spalted maple, hedge, juniper, hackberry ... and so on.

His goal, no matter what sort of tree provided the wood: to expose the perfect form and function, being led by each piece's attributes and flaws ... working with the limitations of each piece of wood.

Much of Terhune's raw material finds its way into broad-bowled spoons and salad utensils or into his specialty, bark-edged walnut bowls. But the rural Missouri artist, who turned a bowl-making hobby into a full-time gig 20 years ago, also creates striking decorative pieces such as the pine wood vase pictured atop this post.

His flaws-into-strengths philosophy shows in the way the pine's knots become featured decorative elements, to be shown off rather than hidden. The vase's irregular edges add a rustic touch, but not at the expense of the piece's clean lines.

It's craft. It's art. And in Terhune's hands, it's a three-dimensional model of redemption.

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