It’s the windiest place in the country and David Groth is walking the deserted, fog drenched beach. He pulls his cap low, buries his chin and shifts his grip on the axe. “I look dangerous.” Groth’s work is found in museum collections that include the Museum of Arts and Design, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Mobile Museum of Art.
Every year, sometime around January or February, Groth heads to the coast near his northern California home. Driving onto the beach, he studies the sand for signs of the sinkholes that can swallow trucks larger than his. At the river mouth, with axe in hand, he begins the day-long search for myrtle logs. Carried down river by the powerful winter run-off, they’re usually buried in sand. A few inches of exposed wood might be part of a log weighing more than a ton. When he finds one he chips at the surface to find the green wood beneath. If it’s suitable, he goes back for his truck. He cuts the log into sections and hoists them into the bed with a winch mounted on the back.
Returning to his studio, surrounded by redwoods, he begins. With over thirty-five years of experience, his knowledge of wood and tools permits a very spontaneous approach to the work. “Every tree has a unique growth history with grain patterns and wood colors presenting themselves in new visual combinations… Wildly varying shapes are characteristic of myrtlewood trees. So of course just the physical shape of a tree will effect decisions I’m making while carving. Successful carving is interplay between design, material, intuition and instilling a sense of life into the sculpture.”
He begins by roughing out the shape with a large saw, carving to within a few inches of the finished surfaces. Using smaller and smaller saws and tips, he can reduce the walls to an inch or two in thickness. A finished piece will be characterized by a dramatic complex of sweeping lines, arcs, angles, and points. The wood’s surface might be sanded smooth or is sometimes chiseled to create a surface similar to pounded metal. Pieces in this new series tend to have thicker walls that impart a more dense, more massive feel to the work. With titles like “Manatee,” “Blue Heron,” and “Fox Bat,” it is clear that nature is his greatest muse.
The son of artists, raised just miles from his home of thirty years, David Groth knows nature and the nature of artists. After many years of supporting himself with construction, he is now free to pursue his art full time. The mastery and confidence of this work reflects a man who is certain of his purpose |
