Wooden waves and ribbon ripples by American artist Kerry Vesper

American artist Kerry Vesper he manages to make wood ripple like a ribbon. It's not veneer or narrow strips of wood, but thick layers of solid wood or plywood that he glues together and processes, giving them a watery ripple. The artist cuts the wooden elements into pre-determined approximate shapes, glues them one on top of the other and then hand-finishes them to create real wooden waves.

An artist inspired by nature

Kerry Vesper has worked in a professional carpenter's shop all her life, but she doesn't consider herself a classic carpenter. He doesn't like making ordinary furniture or working and joining wood in a traditional way. He was and is an artist. He has always seen wood as the material with which he can bring his ideas and projects to life.

The inspiration for the designs she creates comes from where she lives, in the Arizona desert, where nature builds its own works of art with the help of wind and water. Just as the wind lays layers upon layers of earth forming various shapes, so Kerry lays layers upon layers of plywood and solid. He prefers plywood because it closely resembles layers of earth built in nature.

How wooden waves are built

The wood used is always contrasting. For light colors he uses European birch from the Baltic Sea region, and for dark colors, exotic woods. Initially a rough shape of what he wants to achieve is drawn, sometimes using a computer. Then the same shape is drawn on plywood and several such shapes are cut out and glued on top of each other. The last layer is made of exotic, dark wood. The gluing is done in such a way as to create the space to be able to make the wooden waves and ribbon-like ripples.

Once this sandwich is ready, the sanding and smoothing to the desired shape begins. It is a painstaking process that is done entirely by hand. Finally the object is finished with tung oilwithout staining, to bring out the natural structure and colors of the wood.

Kerry Vester makes abstract forms, but also tables, chairs and bowls. Her work is primarily artistic, without claiming to be functional. The abstract forms are realized in such a way that they can be put on the wall horizontally or vertically, they can be mounted on a post without fear of changing their meaning or detracting from their beauty.

Each of his works is unique. Even if his clients order an existing model, the new work will never be identical to the previous one, it will have its own personality.