Dunes Series #7

Virginia Dotson was one of the first wood artists to experiment with wood laminate in turned vessels. She creates these laminates by cutting pieces of wood to various thicknesses, gluing them together to form a block, then cutting and recombining before turning them on the lathe. This piece, with its wonderful contrast of lighter ash and darker wenge, is a particularly stunning example of her use of the technique. Dotson's Dunes Series was inspired by the mountainous landscape of Arizona, her adopted home. She writes, I interpret images of these landscape features through the materials that I use. Layered wood implies rock layers, built up over time. Acrylic can represent space, light or water. Angled compositions of wood layers may refer to shadow patterns or to traces of the winds.