Wood Archives - The Oxfordshire Craft Guild

I started my artistic career by painting furniture. In the 1980s I was living in Edinburgh where one could find interesting pieces of vintage furniture already stripped of all wood stains, just ready to be decorated. It was then a very fashionable idea which kept me busy.

I still have some individual pieces which are waiting to be sold, such as the Vestry wardrobe and Canteen table, which can be seen on my website. They are really unusual, functional pieces that add to the beauty of any room. At the time I thought that the brush and paints were the natural medium to express nature. The smooth hand gesture repeats naturally the smoothness of the stems and petals on a flat surface. They were hugely enjoyable to do.

Moving to Oxford at the end of the 80s, I felt the need to express myself in more challenging and creative ways. The art of marquetry seems to have chosen me. The process of cutting slim veneers into sizes and shapes, and getting them into place with accurate adjustments to space, is very thrilling. The ‘Rose’, the ‘Lilly’ and the ‘Tulip’ are made with coloured veneer inlays on wood panels. They are pictures to be displayed on the wall. Their function is purely aesthetic. I am pleased with the results. It is part of Nature’s generosity to allow us to copy and reinvent its beauty in so many different media and materials with renewed freshness.

My graphic design background enhances harmony and symmetry in the designs I create.

I welcome commissions.

Graham Lester

I have worked with paper as a medium for some time whilst running a creative design company and have been commissioned to produce paper sculptures for display work and other promotions. I now focus on using the medium to express my own ideas. I have demonstrated paper sculpture in John Lewis and other venues and have recently started doing workshops. Ten years ago I took up woodcarving, my first projects were figurative abstracts, I then went on to explore simple abstract forms using various woods. I acquired a lathe to assist with wood carving but soon got into the world of turning bowls and pots. This led me to experiment with recycling materials such as old magazines, plastic signs and other materials that bond together and can be turned. I have also done some stone carving from time to time. When I work in stone I often develop forms previously worked in wood. I find it stimulating alternating these different media, although the disciplines are different, ideas can be carried across from one to another.

2013 ( Fletcher) Prize
The Prize is given by Helen Hardy in memory of her late father Antony Smith. The award is given for work exhibited at the annual Woodstock Exhibition, judged by Helen Hardy, Joanna Foster CBE, OCG President and past Chair of Crafts Council, and Carol Anderson, Oxfordshire Museum Curator.

The 2103 prize-winning bowl is made from recycled material, magazines, coloured paper and plywood.

The 2018 prize, named in honour of Audrey Blackman, was awarded for another piece, a yellow and gray bowl made from recycled Corian.