“And there are some Gardeners Who Appreciate even the Prickly Ones that Reject Their Embrace”
Olivewood hand, Natel Plum thorns, Elm, Lemon Scented Gum branch / 2015 8' × 15" × 5”This piece was made to be show outside in the Madagascar Spiny Garden at Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden for The Nature of Sculpture exhibit. The hexagonal pattern and Natel Plum thorns on the arm duplicates the texture of the Madagascar Palm.
Learn more about Frederic
- About
Fred Rose grew up along the river in Carmel Valley, CA.
He received his BFA in ceramics from California State University, Long Beach- 1992 and his MFA in sculpture from California State University, Fullerton- 2001. He taught Woodworking at California State University, Long Beach for 7 years. He is currently a self-employed artist living in Costa Mesa.
He has been making wood sculpture for the last 25 years. He is influenced by the writings of Eric Sloan and John Seymour, the works of such artists as Noguchi, David Nash, Martin Puryear, Guiseppe Penone and his own childhood along the river and in the forest.
Fred Rose is interested in how the spectrum of traditions in wood from utilitarian woodworking, wood sculpture, and folk art can act as a visual poetry about the nature of the physical world or the quirks of being human.
Most of his wood is collected from locally found logs from the urban forests of Long Beach and Costa Mesa. He mills logs into a combination of lumber, carving and turning blanks, or specimens of wood oddities.
He often combines found natural organic forms with his own man-made objects. He collects evidence of how we deal with living trees by pruning them or how trees as living things respond to adversity as a source of poetic and conceptual inquiry.
He has a growing fondness for things he calls wood anomalies.
- Region
- Costa mesa, CA
- Website
- fredrosestudio.com
- Media
- Wood
- Professional Status
- Maker
Portfolio
"Shade is Tree for Shadow"
Heather, Brisbane Box / 2009 55” × 32” × 24”
“The Mad Cabinetmaker and his Grand Contraption for Explaining the Calluses on his Hand to a Cloud”.
Poplar, Victoria Box / 2019 8'h × 9'3"w × 9'3"dInstallation for “But Can You Sit on It” at El Camino College. Carvings and images refer to the leaves, flowers, seed pods of Poplar trees and the tools and objects of woodworking.
"The Lumberyard at Midnight II" (back)
Basswood (linden, lime), Benjamin Ficus branches, Paint / 2013-14 86” × 20” × 10”Based on the idea of what kind of ghost stories do trees or sawyers tell.
"Bitter, Heart Shaped Walnut,Called a hickory but not a Hickory, A type of pecan but not a Pecan, A nut but not a Nut."
Bitternut Hickory,Hickory/PecanVulcan hammerhead Glass, Illustration by Mary Jo Rado / 2013 67” × 21” × 12”Made for “Bartrams Boxes Remix” show collaboration between Bartrams Garden and The Center for Wood Art with wood from trees that came down in 2010 storm. Log and branching structure are Bitternut Hickory from Bartrams. Hickory/Pecan table from local lumber.
"Ah Ha, a Haw is a Hedge, A Hawthorn Thorn in my Worn Paw, Soft Downy Hair and Hot Burning Hard Wood, My family of Rose, Apple and Pear Cousins What May Flower?"
Downy Hawthorn, Swiss Pear, rose family fruitwoods / 2013 69" × 27" × 11”Downy Hawthorn, Rose family (Rosaceae) wood and log from Bartram’s Garden, Glass, Agave Spines, Iron, Illustration by Mary Jo Rado.Table-Legs and apron pear, top — related Rose Family species-Hawthorn, Pear, Apple, Cherry, and Peach. Feet Apple Burls
"In Support of The Broken Limbs"
Victoria Box, Glass, x-ray of broken arm / 2010 60” × 48” × 32”The broken limbs and scars of trees, chairs, and people
"Shoji Gothic Ghost Story"
Urban milled Ash (CSULB), Creeping Fig / 2013-14 72” × 20” × 9”How Gothic and Rococo tracery mimic the dappled light and field of view that comes through the branches of trees. Tracery structures acting as barriers that prevent you from passing. Shoji as ephemeral barriers that hint at shadows and whispers.
“And there are some Gardeners Who Appreciate even the Prickly Ones that Reject Their Embrace”
Olivewood hand, Natel Plum thorns, Elm, Lemon Scented Gum branch / 2015 8' × 15" × 5”This piece was made to be show outside in the Madagascar Spiny Garden at Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden for The Nature of Sculpture exhibit. The hexagonal pattern and Natel Plum thorns on the arm duplicates the texture of the Madagascar Palm.
"The Lumberyard at Midnight II" (front)
Basswood (linden, lime), Benjamin Ficus branches, Paint / 2013-14 86” × 20” × 10”.Made from the wood of a Tilla tree that came down in storm at the Los Angeles Arboretum. Hollowed out with Straight Cove Cuts and a Donut Cove Cut. The outer surface is Dado Inlay, cutting dados and gluing blocks of wood back into them.
"Low Things Improved with Cuts"
Lemon-scented Gum, Victoria Box, Red Suede / 2010 84" × 24" × 12"The grooming of hedges and people to remove the wild and replace with “refinement”.