From Flitch to Ash: A Musing on Trees and Carving

Rating:
Summary: Wood, Fire, and Transformation: A Sculptor's Journey
Review: Diane Derrick's from flitch to ash: a musing on trees and carving which takes glimpses into the writer/sculptor's memory of her forays with flitch (wood) including amazing digitized depictions of the scupture pieces is a work of art itself. The fact that the actual wooden scupture pieces no longer exist because of a devastating fire gives the reader a strange sense of perception and reality. The more one reads, the more magical and wonderful this unique book seems to be. Derrick draws the reader into another world. She mesmerizes and explains in an emotionally satisfying way that which may be unfamiliar, the mystical nature of wood, its history in art, and the compulsion that drew the author/sculptor to explore its ever-changing qualities and to choose wood sculpting itself as a form of artistic expression.

flitch to ash is not like a murder mystery you rush through to see "who done it", athough there are similarities that come to mind. There is a murder of sorts, there is a mystery to solve, and there is context, shadow, and much light shed on the subject of crafting wood as well as a keen sensibility of the larger landscape, the Mother of Wood, the darker mystical places, Forests. The author's discussion contrasting the use of wood and clay provides emotional insight into Derrick's experiences as she changes her medium of expression.

This little book surprised me. My fascination for it seems neverending. I keep going back again to look at the black and white images as well as the color plates. Each time is different as I focused on ideas and feelings that Derrick expresses about her work. The pieces themselves seem to come to life so full of character and womanly verve. You begin to see the individual subjects, both human and animal, come to life before your very eyes. They pop out, as the author described her first experience sculpting a face out of wood. There still is much to learn.