For the Love of Wood

The Polynesians who peopled these islands arrived by wooden canoe, discovering lands rich in forests of milo, koa, kamani, wiliwili, ‘ohia . . . and so many sandalwood trees, that the Chinese who came here to trade for the fragrant wood had their own name for Hawai‘i: “The Sandalwood Mountains.”

 

 

Our love affair with wood continues to this day—and nowhere is that more true than among the nearly 50 members of the Maui Woodworkers’ Guild, founded in 2001 to foster the highest standards of craftsmanship and design. In 2002, the guild’s first juried show, Inspired Hands, debuted in the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Schaefer Gallery.
   
We asked a handful of guild members to share their art. If you find your appetite whetted for more, check the Maui  Woodworkers Guild website, www.mauiguild.com.

Peter Naramore-

For the past thirty years I have made my living by working with wood. At first it seemed like a simple way to support myself but I’ve managed to steadily complicate the process. Woodworking constantly challenges and excites me.

As a boy growing up in rural New York, Peter Naramore loved designing tree forts and wooden huts, “borrowing” his materials from abandoned barns and construction sites.  At 15 he started working as a carpenter over summer vacations; later he spent a year traveling the U.S. and Canada in a homemade camper with a stencilled sign: “Travelling Carpenter, Enquire Within.” In 1976 he moved to Maui, where he now designs and crafts custom furniture, cabinetry and interiors. Naramore has been featured on the cover of Fine Woodworking magazine; his work appears in a number of books on custom furniture and design.

John Wittenburg-
   
John Wittenburg got that calling early in life. Once upon a time he was a ship’s carpenter, building boats, repairing masts and spars. A native of Germany, he came to the U.S. in 1958, to Maui in 1966. In 1972 he opened a shop in Kihei, and started making furniture. Thirty-five years later, and now in Kahakuloa, he’s only “sort of retired.” It’s the challenge that keeps him going, being able to stand back and see that he’s created something tangible. And though ours has become a “throwaway society,” he’s gratified that people still hanker for something handmade. “The wood talks to you,” he says. “You don’t have to be sophisticated to see it.”
    Wittenburg  has  been profiled  in Fine Woodworking, and is a founding member of the Maui Woodworkers’ Guild.

Tom Calhoun-

I was born in Hawai‘i and am constantly inspired by the mountains and oceans of my home. My passion is detailed craftsmanship; my style—“Pacific nouveau”—is influenced by the mingling of Polynesian, Oriental and Western cultures unique to these islands. Finding the proper balance between design and the inherent beauty of wood requires conscious effort. I find it deeply satisfying that my work keeps me active not only physically, but mentally and aesthetically.

Tom Calhoun’s award-winning work has appeared in juried exhibitions of woodworking and fine-art around the state—not bad for an artist who is primarily self-taught (though he credits noted Maui artist and teacher Sydney Yee for inspiring him, early on). Calhoun’s designs are replete with complex joinery and intricate carving and inlay; his ethic with a concern for Hawaiian culture. A volunteer with the nonprofit Living Indigenous Forest Ecosystems, and a member of the board of the Maui Woodworkers’ Guild, Calhoun played a major role, in the mid-1990s, in restoring Mo‘olele, Maui’s 43-foot, double-hull Hawaiian voyaging canoe.

Shaun Fleming-

There’s a unique quality and exotic beauty to Hawaiian woods; it’s what I seek to convey in every piece I create. 

Like the native woods Shaun Fleming prefers, this avid surfer and mother of three has roots that go deep into Maui’s soil. Her great-great-grandparents arrived here from Norway in 1880; her husband’s great-uncle, David T. Fleming, was a leading figure in agricultural conservation on Maui. (Much of the koa Shaun uses comes from a small, private forest D. T. Fleming planted in the early 1900s.)

Fleming was introduced to woodworking 17 years ago, when she was hired as a sander in a custom cabinet shop. Soon she was designing her own creations in her Ha‘iku studio—everything from delicate, turned bowls, to a nine-foot-tall bookcase inlaid with marquetry. Shaun and her family gather and mill much of the wood from which she creates her art, using the family’s portable bandsaw mill and drying kiln. Fleming serves on the board of the Maui Woodworkers’ Guild; her work is exhibited at various galleries on Maui and O‘ahu.

Mats Fogelvik-

I grew  up  in  an  arts-and-crafts  family in Sweden, and have a rich inspirational source to draw from in Scandinavian heritage and tradition. I am attracted to simplicity, beauty and function in a form. There is a fine balance between function and sculptural value. It doesn’t take much to add the personal touch; too much, and the balance is thrown off. My goal is to enable the customer to connect with the piece on a very emotional level. Wood is a living material; what excites me is bringing out the soul within, to make the wood express itself to you.

Cofounder and current president of the Maui Woodworkers Guild, Mats Fogelvik studied furniture-making in Stockholm, where he also taught woodshop. In 1991 he moved to Maui, becoming a full-time woodworker and furniture maker. Fogelvik’s work has been featured in Art Maui (a juried, multimedia art exhibition), Woods of Hawai‘i and the Hawai‘i Craftsmen Statewide Exhibition.