Bart Ingraham
Suttons Bay, Michigan
Created in 2011-12
Walnut
“My interest in carving started when my wife and I were in the Peace Corps in the Phillippines. We visited a mountain tribe in Bagio who carved and sold items in the tourist trade. My reaction was, I can do that, and so it started. Upon return I started creating items which were incorporated into our living space. With the passing of time I started creating signs for local businesses done in the relief style. This satisfied my creative urges until the turn of the century when I started carving in three dimensions. I started small and got hooked by the process of creating something from an unformed block of wood. Three years ago I tried carving in stone and now work in both mediums. I am represented by two galleries in Traverse City and at our business, Bellwether Gardens in Suttons Bay. My work has been juried into several local shows.
“The piece The Dancers came to me as a black walnut log 7' tall with a diameter of 30"- 36". It was not suitable for a saw log because of damage done by carpenter ants. The two people dancing had been an idea that I had lived with for a couple years, and now I had log big enough to make them come to life. The figures are really representational of my wife and I. We fell in love on the dance floor and have continued the dance for over forty years. On a larger scale it represents, to me, my dance through life with my partner, moving to the unheard music of life and hoping that I do it gracefully while making as few missteps as possible.
“In the end the ants made my work much easier, for they had created a void which became the space between the dancers. A big part of the beauty of the piece is the way the grain revealed itself when the wood was finished.”
The Dancers was coated first with epoxy and then finished with five coats of marine varnish for outdoor protection. Art Rapids was pleased to add a second Ingraham sculpture, The Lotus, in 2014.
Approximate dimensions and weight:
6’5” tall x 30-36”
200 pounds
$7000
For further information about the purchase of this sculpture, please contact us.