Skip Bellock
Carvings in Wood
Skip Bellock, a Utah wood turner, transplanted to the Wasatch Mountains as a young adult, attracted by the skiing, white-water rafting and red-rock vistas. As a native of the mid-west, Skip grew up loving hardwood forests. His father taught him woodworking skills and a desire for excellence from the time he was young. Skip has a degree in geology and retired as a successful commercial general contractor. He and his wife have four sons.
Skip started wood turning as a natural progression of his love for working with wood in any form. This love extends to his personal “arboretum” where he nurtures tree seeds in his greenhouse, then plants them in his yard.
The vast majority of his work is done in rare and beautiful Australian burls. Burls are growths, sometimes seen on the sides or bases of trees. These growths produce “eyes,” swirls and textures totally unlike the normal wood of the tree. The Australians are privileged to have the most varied and alluring timbers in the world, from the rainforest hardwoods to wizened desert mulgas. These trees have struggled to maturity through centuries of climatic challenges, often in the poorest soils on Earth, to develop character found nowhere else. The rich color and texture of the Aussie burls such as Jarrah, Coolibah and Red Mallee are simply the finest and most spectacular on the planet.
Skip believes that the appearance, texture and workability of wood is unsurpassed by any other medium. He rarely adorns his pieces with other materials, preferring to let the natural beauty of the wood and a pleasing shape, catch the viewer’s attention.
“Creating with a warm and wonderful material such as wood gives me great pleasure. Nature is the ultimate artist and I seek only to explore and reveal her innate beauty. To conceive the connection between the magnificent living tree and the objects of art seen here is what the creative process is about for me. I feel a responsibility to the trees to produce work that does credit to them and honors them in this, their second life. I hope my work brings you the feelings of warmth and pleasure for years to come that it has brought me in creating it.”
