The House of Steward Wood Art
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Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions at: stewardm@infinet.com
CELTIC
MOUNTAIN MEN, FUR TRADERS AND FRONTIERSMEN
JAPANESE SHINGATA KOKESHI DOLLS
A lot of people have asked me since my retirement how I feel about the transition from teaching martial arts to becoming a wood sculptor/carver. I do not look at it as a transition. The art of wood sculpting/carving and martial arts are one and the same to me. I have been doing both for many years. I feel that teaching martial arts is like sculpting a work of art from a block of beautiful wood. There are no two pieces of wood or pieces of finished sculpture exactly alike. Some wood is soft and easily carved and some is hard and extremely difficult to carve, but a lot of small, subtle motions over time, with tons of practice, finally reveal beautiful works of art-your students. The Master Instructor becomes the sculptor, molding and shaping his students through unselfish devotion to produce the best trained martial arts students. The disciplines required to sculpt great martial arts students is also the same disciplines required to sculpt wood art.
I believe that martial arts is a way of life, and it shares the common goals and discipline with other classical arts like: the tea ceremony, wood carving, calligraphy, and Japanese flower arranging, to be cultivated through physical and classical training is the optimal goal. It is also within reason to claim that martial arts, through physical and classical training and discipline, makes the impossible become possible, and helps one in pursuing the aim of his/her life, thus making human life at once broader, deeper and balanced.
When the students are learning the basics of any art it is like cleaning the bark off a rough tree.
When the students show their willingness to work hard for a goal it is like the shaping and sculpting of the wood.
When the students refine their techniques it is like sanding and molding the wood.
When the students become deeply enlightened it is like the smoothing and polishing of the wood.
Lastly I would like to recognize my favorite artist.
My background in warrior/martial arts/martial sciences goes back to thirty years of training, but my classical arts training goes back to my childhood almost forty-two years ago at the age of eight. I have been trained in the art mediums of stain glass, basket weaving, macramé, Chinese knot tying, origami, ceramics, pottery, all types of painting acrylics-water colors-oils ect., pen and pencil drawing, wood burning, scroll saw wood crafting, clay sculpting, wood carving, Ikebana (The Japanese art of flower arranging), Chaji (Japanese Tea Ceremony), calligraphy-both Chinese and Japanese, poetry, and writing.
My love of the arts comes from my father and grandfather. My grandfather was a gifted craftsman. He could shape wood, cane chairs and make anything from scratch. My father was an outstanding artist and poet. I feel so blessed to have inherited the genetic love of all arts.
Tom Wolfe who has inspired countless thousands of carvers over the years, is my favorite carver for Wood Spirits, Santas, Cottonwood Bark Carvings, Pencil Carvings and walking sticks. Practically everything I carve except for the Shingata Kokeshi Dolls and the Whimsical Birds, has been inspired by him.
Usaburo Okamoto has inspired me with his talent of carving Creative Kokeshi Dolls. He has been making Kokeshi dolls for over 54 years now. I was most impressed with his artistic painting skills. He puts all of the three dimensional detail in with paint, and I put the three dimensional look in with the wood carving itself. He and his family are the best in the business in Japan.
Laura Putman Dunkle is the best Whimsical animal/bird carver in the world. I have truly enjoyed carving the little birds that she is so famous for.