Embracing imperfection

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This article was published 20/07/2024 (720 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Where others see waste, Sean Philips sees only possibilities.

Whether it’s a diseased tree destined for the chop or storm-battered trunks blown down by wind or logs laying discarded in ditches, as long as it’s wood, it’s rescued and taken to his workshop where it’s given a second lease of life.

Transformed into vessels and one-of-a-kind sculptures, Philips has a vision of what he wants to achieve when he starts carving, but more often than not, he finds himself being led by the colour, shape and texture.

“I have 100 pieces laid out in my garage in such a way I can see every piece of wood I have available. When I go in there I put a chair in the middle, look at the wood and see which one stands out. I put that one on the workbench, walk around it to see what shape it wants to be and then I carve into it,” he says.

“I start off with an idea but as I’m carving, if I see a different sort of pattern, I will never force it to be something it doesn’t want to be. I work by feel, not by intention. I don’t like to force things; flow is very important to me.”

A videographer and photographer by trade, Philips considers himself a maker. He draws, paints, writes and plays in bands, but wood is where his purpose lies.

“Creating things is my happy place. But soon as I started carving I thought this is what I should be doing with every minute of every day. I love the fact that this was alive at one point, and that every piece, even from the same tree, is completely different. It’s like unwrapping a present every time. The fact that they are different inspires my creativity.”

Wood is a relatively new artistic medium for Philips.

“I will never force it to be something it doesn’t want to be. I work by feel, not by intention.”–Sean Philips

Five years ago while on a camping trip with his family, his children requested he make them Harry Potter wands and he duly complied, whittling sticks with his Swiss Army knife.

He then embarked on a whittling spree, making a chess set, spoons and hundreds of little wooden creatures such as turtles, bears and elephants.

It was fun, but he quickly became frustrated.

“I am a big guy. I have gigantic hands; it was never going to work out for me,” he laughs.

These days Philips uses a heavy-duty angle grinder to create his works, uploading 60-second videos with built-in narratives on his TikTok and Instagram accounts @seanphilips.woodcarving. He has amassed nearly 30 million views from folks interested in his methods.

Philips carves, smooths and shapes the material to highlight the grain patterns, colours and textures of the wood, before sanding, a time-consuming process that generates a fair amount of dust — “I am usually covered in shavings, and my wife loves sawdust making its way inside the house.”

Finally each piece is polished to a gleam with mineral oil and beeswax.

“The plan is for everything to be as close to nature to possible and to generate as little waste as I can. All the off-cuts end up in my fireplace, too,” he says.

But it’s not just off-cuts headed for the flames; at least 10 per cent of works in progress become “very pretty firewood” — unless he finds a way to successfully patch a problem, of course.

Of all the things he’s made, one of his favourites is a Manitoba maple bowl, the bottom of which cracked entirely during the drying process. He was set to feed it to the fire until inspiration struck.

Reminded of kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold-dusted lacquer, Philips reimagined his ruined vessel, removing the bottom and lacing up the section with deerskin leather.

He is currently working his way toward making a gigantic sculpture. His pieces are becoming incrementally larger, from the small creatures he whittled at the start of his journey to the bigger bowls, larger vases and weightier sculptures he makes now.

“I want to end up making a 10-foot sculpture. It seems like I have subconsciously been learning the smaller processes to get bigger and bigger to achieve something… and what that something is, I don’t know. I hope I never find out, because I want to be learning for the rest of my life.”

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca