Anthony Bryant

Burr Oak Vessel

2001

Anthony Bryant began woodturning in 1973 after discovering an old 19th Century treadle lathe in his father's workshop. He was immediately fascinated by the woodturning process, especially the bowl form, and soon progressed to a motorized lathe where he spent several years before leaving full-time education, developing and refining bowl-turning techniques. In 1978 he began a career in commercial banking which, although good in many respects, prevented him from spending the same amount of time improving skills and developing ideas. He soon realized it was essential for him to work alongside a professional wood turner, and so during all his spare time and holidays he teamed up with a highly respected and skilled industrial wood turner, producing specialist parts for cathedral and church organs. Such work involves the use of ivory and other precious timbers and is to be found in amongst others, St. Paul's Cathedral, Sidney Opera House and Westminster Abbey. This exposure to skills and general work discipline, quite different to that required for bowl-turning, proved invaluable in demanding greater commitment and attention to his work. As the demand for his work increased he was able to resign from the bank in 1982 and immediately concentrate on producing work of a highly unique and individual nature, experimenting with the shape, scale and volume of the vessel form. Over recent years his work has become widely recognized for its development of exceptionally thin, translucent vessels in a style and on a scale not previously attempted. For this work he has used Figured Sycamore and Figured Ash, because they are visually beautiful and also possess an ability to withstand being turned paper-thin without splitting or shattering. Pieces range from delicate 'Pots' of 5" diameter x 5" deep up to large vessels 2' diameter x 8" deep and all 1/8" or less in thickness. Using unseasoned timber he produces large, expansive bowls which, while being rotated in the lathe, fling out all the sap within the wood cells causing the cellular structure of the bowl to contract and move out of perfect symmetry into a more individual and exciting shape. This movement is only possible when the thickness of the bowl is 1/8" or less; otherwise the stresses within the wood will result in splitting. This ability to move makes such work particularly suitable for areas of high humidity or heat, the bowl being so thin as to be able to flex just enough to prevent splitting.