The lonely sculptor who became an artist by chance

The story of the American sculptor John McAbery is almost unbelievable. His way of life, the story that led him to sculpture, the detachment with which he looks at the material side and his love of nature and freedom make you think you're dealing with a Hollywood story. But this is the everyday life of this artist by chance, as John likes to present himself.

McAbery lives by the Pacific Ocean in northern California in a log cabin he built himself. The cabin has a single room with a wood-burning stove, which is used for heating as well as coffee and cooking, a sink, a bed, a table with some sort of extension (for work) and 2 chairs. The whole house is about 100 square meters. The bathroom is outside the house. It has no utilities - running water, gas or electricity, but the house has a 50 watt solar panel mounted on it which provides the electricity needed to power 12 watt light bulbs and a radio. John has lived in a space like this for decades.

In 1992, when he was 48 years old, and after 30 years of living by the ocean, he went as usual to pick up trash washed up on the beach, he discovered a piece of mahogany shaped like a foot. He took it back to his cottage and spent the next few days trying to carve a spoon with the tools he had at home. He found he really enjoyed doing this, and for the next 6 months he made spoons out of scraps of various woods taken from a carpenter friend.

Even after 6 months of spending every spare minute carving he didn't consider himself an artist. One day a friend asked him if he wouldn't be interested in doing artwork as well. The answer was "no", but something in his mind was still beginning to take shape. Seeing a seashell on the beach, he thought of trying to reproduce it. The first attempt was acceptable, the next 4 were getting better and better, and the seventh had almost translucent walls. There were also a few that ended their short lives in the stove. Satisfied with the results he started looking around for patterns.

There were all sorts of shapes that could be carved - birds, shells, plants - but he started by trying to reproduce a twisted ribbon. His first attempts ended up in the stove. In the meantime he bought more tools, also mechanical, and working with them was one of the pleasures of his new hobby. Sometimes the patterns were created with the help of ribbons that were placed in certain positions, after which the design was reproduced on the wood.

He worked this way for 2 years, without considering himself an artist, offering some of his works to people he knew because the small space did not allow him to keep them all. By chance, in October 1995, John met Gretchen Bunker, a young artist who had arrived on that California beach. Gretchen is very impressed with his work and, having connections in the art world, sends some of it to art galleries in Seatle, Santa Fe, Aspen and Los Angeles. The works are successful, and John McAbery soon grows from a simple carpenter to a well-known and appreciated artist.

Becoming an artist did not change his way of life. The only change was the fact that Gretchen came into his life and became his partner. Sometimes she does his drawings for some of his works. But life remained as simple as ever, with Gretchen herself respecting his solitude.

John McAbery continues to work with hand tools, hating the noise made by power tools. The works are drawn on wood,

after which a long process of drilling and shaping begins,

using a Japanese saw, rasps, drills, batteries or other such tools.

At first he used wood of different species, but he got on best with Californian laurel, which is both hard and elastic and has a rich colour palette. Now he works only in laurel, which he sands at the end with 600-grit sandpaper and finishes with a mixture of beeswax and carnauba.

John is a great lover of nature. He only works with wood blown down by the winds or brought in by water. He continues to live in his log cabin and clean the beach of driftwood. He lives the same simple life, with no fancy tools, TV or telephone. Once a week he walks to the nearby town, where he shops and checks his email.

Gretchen runs the website and her daughter runs the Etsy shop. She doesn't want to sell her work any other way because she doesn't need more. The simple life that gives her the joy of appreciating and savouring time, of living intensely by continually discovering and learning, is all she wants. But the great joy is wood carving and is grateful for the moment when, finding the piece of mahogany on the beach, he decided to carve it. Without that moment he would have missed the most creative and fulfilling part of his life.