About Us

	Between the Rings by Matthew G. Welter Thoughts About The Medium In a changing world, wood is constant. In fact, just about everything seems to have some sort of grain. The universe itself has grain -- like an apparent constellation in a polished burl table. Streaming through the galaxies, the grain punctuates the composition in the night sky. The winds, air and water have currents; even earth and stone are veined and stratified. Time itself has rhythm--in an inspired moment, you can feel the very grain of your life.
Mattew G. Welter 2005
Is there anyone who doesn’t like wood? In this age of techno-humanity, our reverence for wood only deepens. Wood, with its trade-mark warmth and innocent beauty doesn’t even have to try; not with all those knots, grains and glorious cracks. Yes, glorious! Cracks are at once the markers of imperfection and a welcome, random release of tension in an otherwise well-ordered reality. Cracks are justification for, and acceptance of forces we cannot control. Dodging them has led to some of this sculptor’s more humbling insights on shape -- the wood all the while maintains a beguiling smugness.
		Glorious cracks!

	Somewhere, between the rings, wood has all the answers. Its unforgiving nature is axiomatic. This, taken with the finality of any subtractive process, and wood is a strict, if generous teacher. The sculptor can blunt the sharp edges of a crack to ease the inevitable, but wood, like life, has the final say. Wood shares its wealth with the patient sculptor who can *let, not make*. From Spiritual carvings to totem poles, from glorious nudes to masterful abstractions, sculptors still turn to wood for its elusive slice of passion -- though medium alone cannot a masterwork rend. Still, every great woodworker from Christ to Henry Moore knows that wood not only talks, at times it shouts -- and its decisions are final!
Saint Francis, commissioned by catholic church
Thoughts On The Process In an age where “limited-edition” reproductions have been so *unlimited*, wood sculptures -- especially floor-sized works and larger -- are obviously original. Like the themes they depict, wood sculptures are genuine, sincere, and made of something which still breathes. In this age of mass manufacturing, one-of-a-kind things can be almost priceless.
Aside from three-dimensional art forms, so readily molded, cast and chased, are two-dimensional reproductions which are printed or broad-cast. One of my painter pals is shocked by the awesome graphics coming off the computer. “Image competition is just so crazy out there!” he laments. These factors and more have brought wood into focus as a credible, if not revered fine-art medium – now elevated beyond just a clever craft. In preparation for this article, I consulted the three most heavily circulated sculpture magazines in print. That same month, all three had featured wood sculpture as their cover story!
		Matthew with some of his contemporary works
	A look through the pictures of some wood sculptors’ work is a walk through a very private place where images stand in stark, sometimes embracing simplicity. Their work is like a favorite friend telling a story you’ve heard many times but would love to hear again. Woodcarvers are among the most gifted sculptors alive, and their obviously original work is as genuine as the medium that conveys their stories.
Quality is under valued
With attention to anatomy, balance, composition and with good original concepts, truly fine works can evolve. In the end, a worthy record of humanity will be transcribed from the carvings being produced in our era. Though wood cannot lay claim to the endurance of bronze, even the pieces I have cast bare the unmistakable thumbprint of wood. I exploit the grain, exaggerating the cracks, enrich the colors, so as to let the wood tell its story. Even the castings from a wooden original maintain much of the life-force that wood contributes, since the textures in wood translate so gracefully to cast mediums, especially bronze. Bronze, to me, is worthy of wood.
		Detail from "The Seeker"
Though wood must be maintained, especially out of doors, the maintenance can be performed by relatively unskilled hands and with readily available materials. It’s up to the sculptor to *inspire* a timely coat of oil and to mind function, along with form, to ensure structural integrity.
	The chainsaw has made producing monumental works accessible to common people and consequently has enabled a whole new era of sculptors. Years of academics do not precede most wood sculptor’s careers, since all it takes is a saw, a few power tools and a strong will. Wood sculpture does not require expensive foundries and gaseous materials. Minimized is the need for powerful hoists and mighty trucks for moving heavy stone or bronze. Easily transported, wood sculptures are more easily marketed, as well.
Attention to detail!
Thoughts on training and influences Had my sculpting experience ripened in a metropolis, and not the mountain logging town of Camino, California, I’d probably be working in stone, bronze, or other cast mediums. Though I have dabbled in these more reproducible materials, my heart always goes back to wood. It was there I first found creative refuge, carving a tree stump with a chainsaw. While my teen-era chums were becoming mighty lumbermen, I had trouble cutting straight lines with my saw! Nor did I wish to, considering I had in my hands the greatest tool ever invented for carving monuments. Most wood sculptors are self-taught, though often inspired and guided by common people along the way. I too have been taught by other carvers, whose lessons, like the trees they carve in, come direct from life.
Most indelible on my character are the influences of Paul and Patricia Welter, my loving parents. It was from my father, the cabinet maker that I first learned to envision and complete a project and I'm sure that's where I first heard the wood calling me. Mom dabbled in the arts and so I first saw art through the veil of her enduring wisdom. Besides parental influences, most notable among my own mentors is the enigmatic, legendary Chip Fyn, of near-by Pollock Pines, CA. He tolerated my youth while, between my duties, I watched him work. In this way, he passively inspired and guided my own projects. My apprenticeship waned off and on for nearly 10 years and was as seminal as it was sporadic. Chip created mostly 19th-century show figures and cigar-store Indians; many were humorous replications of famous designs. That’s where my fascination with the human form began.
My master's knowledge of sculpture came not from any standardized formula or well-ordered curriculum. Consequently, I was never taught about the things I *couldn’t* do. I learned to draw my plans on a blank slate. I learned even more from Chip about *how* he approached things than from the things he did. It was from Chip Fyn I learned the true nature of creative thought. It is also where I learned showmanship and an entrepreneurial approach more comfortable in a Mark Twain novel then a university!
		The Legendary Chip Fyn
We were among the first to carve with chainsaws, refining our carvings with chisels and gouges. That was more then 40 years ago, and since then, I have developed refinement techniques using electric and pneumatic tools more commonly found in an auto-body shop. A newspaper reporter first coined a term to describe my method: “Power Sculpting.”
	Early on, the novelty of that method became my ticket to promoting the work. Still a lad, art show promoters began trading me premium booth space for my “performances” and the local media always took interest. I have always showcased the “process of art,” staging my studios to attract, educate and entertain. This approach has provided an alternative way to produce artworks for my living while making my expenses.
Passion on display, at an art show, age 15
Thoughts On My Professional Accomplishments Since winning a neighborhood mud-ball contest as a tiny boy, I have always surrounded my self with creative challenges. I sculpted melted crayons, gouged my mother’s wooden furniture with spoons, and built mud cities with anyone who would help me. I was granted my first commission at age 13, by a well-to-do neighbor.
I established my first studio/showroom at age 15-1/2 -- my mother had to drive me there to my work after school. It was called The Wooden People Shoppe, and immediately, I began taking on apprentices. At 27, I was calling my enterprise *Timeless Sculptures*, and in thirteen years the studio/gallery became a cultural icon on Lake Tahoe’s north shore. With the help of my always-willing apprentices, I moved and reestablished the operation to Carson City when I was 40; in part to take advantage of a milder climate in which to work outdoors on my huge sculptures.
		Timeless Sculptures former gallery at Lake Tahoe
	At age 45, I am carving sometimes huge monuments, memorials and figurative, contemporary fine-art pieces. My studio, a design and training facility still named Timeless Sculptures, is located at one of the oldest and most traveled intersections in the West: “The Ol' Crossroads of Nevada.” Today, the facility is something of a High Sierra landmark, and locals give me regular critiques on my monuments as I go!
Click to see map

By this presentation, I am supported entirely by commissions. My trained apprentices and I have completed many hundreds of commissioned works for collectors, wide and varied. I have never sold my work through an outside gallery, preferring to represent myself. Thus, most of my work has been influenced by private collectors, not by stuffy art marketers. The content of my contemporary fine-art pieces, however, is dictated entirely by Yours Truly -- and the cracks -- those stubborn, glorious cracks! Over the years, a small apprenticeship program has evolved, seemingly of its own volition. To date, scores of young artists have attempted to learn my method of sculpture and marketing. A few have mastered both, enough to survive and thrive in their own art careers. All will, themselves, be teachers of tomorrow’s artists.
		Mr. Welter conducts an exclusive apprentice program.
Thoughts On My Current Direction I am excited at the liberating possibilities of the Internet, which offers me a farther-reaching presence. This cyber-gateway to the world will allow me to pursue the commissions in which I am most interested. I will favor projects which allow me to study more human anatomy and to carve more of my beloved, pure-form, figurative-abstractions. Of course I’ll make bigger and bigger sculptures, always bigger. My close proximity to the gigantic coastal redwood trees is inspiring. A year and a half ago, I proposed a “linear park” at the “southern gateway” to Nevada’s capital, Carson City. The privately funded park would be located on public property that adjoins my facilities. The park will feature bike paths and foot trails which meander past huge sculptures, all viewable from the bustling freeway interchange. The monuments will be carved by me and some of my apprentices. The task will take years in its planning and execution, and I have considered taking on more apprentices to assist me. The park will take its place alongside 36 existing parks throughout the world that have “freedom” as their sole theme. I am excited to see the president championing my favorite cause, but I do not believe it is up to any president to insure my freedoms. I believe it is up to me. My *Freedom Park* will feature wood sculptures that will, no doubt, take the rest of my days to accomplish. To create the park, I will draw on inspiration from the same well of understanding that tutors me still: a secret, almost sacred place of honor -- that space between the rings.

~ Click here to see a slide of Matthew and his works through the years! ~

Between the Rings by Matthew G. Welter

Between the Rings
by Matthew G. Welter