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Claude Godcharles has been working with wood for most of his life. Inspired by his dad and uncles who were all “hands-on people,” he started making simple furniture as a teenager. “Unfortunately, I’ve pretty much learned the wrong way of doing things from my dad and uncles. They were just winging it all the time and didn’t have the right tools and the right education and technique,” Godcharles said. So, he started taking classes and learning from friends, in particular a friend who is a cabinet maker. Initially, he was making and restoring furniture for his house, but this led to an interest in and passion for woodturning.
Godcharles grew up in Montreal and came to the Bay Area in 1992 to work as an electrical engineer for a year. Over 30 years later he is still living happily in Menlo Park. He is showing his woodturned pieces in a solo exhibition called “Out of the Wood” through June 1 at The Main Gallery, also in Menlo Park.
Woodturning is a process in which a piece of wood is attached to a rotating lathe and then manipulated using various tools for shaping and carving of the wood. Godcharles likes woodturning because it is a faster and more creative process than furniture building: “It is much more satisfying in terms of expression and creating freeform (compared to) planning a furniture build … and you can basically make a piece in an evening instead of planning for months to make a piece of furniture,” he said.
He makes both functional pieces, such as bowls and vases, as well as abstract pieces that are more sculptural, depending on the wood. “You can have natural edges, bark, or knots and things that have a different message or a different expression … You don’t know what to expect and you discover as you go and then you adapt your design to make the best use of it … The discovery process when you start shaping a piece and you discover what’s in there, it’s always a bit magical,” he said.
Godcharles likes working with different kinds of woods from the local area, specifically fruit tree wood like plum and apricot from the old orchards in the Bay Area, as well as walnut wood which has a darker color than fruit trees. But his favorite wood is camphor tree wood, which originates from East Asia. He likes the color of the wood. “It’s got all sorts of tones. It goes from blonde to orange to reddish tones sometimes.” Camphor trees are also used to extract oil to use for pain relief and for other health-related purposes, so “my (home) studio smells like a pharmacy when I turn that wood,” he said.
Godcharles belongs to a local wood art association where members inform each other about interesting trees that are being cut in the local area. He notes that, “tree cutters are very happy to give it to you because they don’t have to take it away and dump it, so we got good support locally from arborists and tree cutters.”
In terms of finishing and decorating his pieces, Godcharles lets the wood determine this process to a large degree. That is, it depends on the type and color of the wood, as well as the details in the wood such as holes and patterns. With light wood without patterns, he might decorate the piece using a special wood burning technique, and with dark wood with patterns, he might just oil it using a special hard wax and oil blend. “Sometimes the piece is so graphic on its own, you don’t need to do anything; you just put the oil on it and it just pops and looks three-dimensional.”
Overall, Godcharles is inspired by architecture and classical forms for his wood art. He goes to museums to look at pottery, in particular, and takes a lot of pictures for inspiration. He notes that, “these forms have been around for thousands of years and have been refined … there is a reason why these forms are more appealing (because of) the balance and the harmony of the shape … so I like to look at that and try to bring that into my pieces if I can,” he said.
In fact, his favorite piece of his own art was inspired by architecture and a mathematical curve called “catenary.” A catenary curve has a U-like shape, which is the shape of a flexible hanging chain or cable between two points, which is used for the building of bridges and arches, among other things. Using camphor wood, Godcharles created a tall vase with a catenary shape and topped it with a cap made of blackwood. He explains: “I’m really happy with that piece. It’s really unique and the shape is a flowing curve that progressively gets tighter and tighter at the top.”
Godcharles joined the Main Gallery last fall but has exhibited his art in other galleries. The Main Gallery is an artists’ cooperative consisting of 14 artists from the Bay Area. The gallery was established in Redwood City in the year 2000 but is now located on Santa Cruz Avenue in downtown Menlo Park. To become a member, the gallery has a jurying process in which potential members have to submit at least five pieces of current work, an artist statement, and photographs of an additional five to 10 pieces of work. The work of the 14 artists is varied and includes photography, mixed media, wood, painting, jewelry and ceramics. The artists are expected to help staff the gallery and a new show by one of the 14 artists is installed every six weeks.
Godcharles said he likes the communal aspect of the gallery as opposed to a commercial gallery, where the owner may take half of the profits.
“Out of the Wood” is his first exhibit at the gallery and he chose to show pieces that demonstrate the breadth of this work. So, the pieces are both functional and sculptural, with different finishings, and representing about seven types of wood. “I wanted a good variety that shows the character of wood, like what you can get out of different trees and different conditions of wood. I left some ragged natural contours on pieces, and some others are completely finished and shaped.”
The main purpose for exhibiting his art is to get feedback from people. “People are really attracted by seeing more of the natural aspect of the wood. So that’s good to hear and very in line with what I like to do.” After joining the Main Gallery, Godcharles sold about 20 pieces of his art for Christmas, both smaller and larger items. Ideally, he would like to create and sell bigger pieces to art collectors. But in terms of people’s reaction to his art, his main hope is for people “to see a nice finished piece as a piece of art. Art can be contemplative and take you out of your mind … just like a meditation. You can look at it and reflect on nature and what nature brings you.”
Godcharles has been teaching woodworking at Palo Alto Adult School for over 10 years and he believes that “teaching is learning.” Specifically, he learns when each of his 15 students is working on a different project and he has to problem-solve with them about techniques on pieces he may not have made himself. But more generally, he thinks that, “you find out all sorts of little aspects of it that you don’t think about when you do it yourself, but to transfer it to someone you need to be aware of it… I think that brings your expertise to another level.” Another important aspect of woodturning and teaching is safety. Students have to be taught the proper procedures for how to handle the lathe and the tools. Wood can fracture and fly out and tools can get caught in the wood or bounce off if not handled properly.
“I see from teaching that people need an outlet to express and create stuff and I just hope people that see things made like that are inspired to try something on their own. People restrict themselves thinking that it’s not going to be good, but that’s not the point. The point is to do it and just practice creating and making things,” he said.
“Out of the Wood” is on view through June 1 at The Main Gallery, 883 Santa Cruz Ave., Suite 1, Menlo Park. themaingallery.org.
