Don Duden features artistry in wood with lathe turned wooden vessels and sculptural works of art. He creates open, closed, and vase-like forms as well as carved and ultra thin pierced vessels.

    Being environmentally sensitive, Don works primarily with wood from trees that have died from natural causes or that have been salvaged from construction sites. Don says “Finding great trees that would have been destroyed and turning them into functional pieces or unique art forms has been a great source of satisfaction to me. I love wood so much that I am always aware of the need to protect our ability to enjoy it forever.” Don spends a lot of time selecting, gathering and preparing the wood to the point that the piece is ready for the lathe. The wood may range from six months to several years old before it is ready to be turned.

    The thin walled, pierced carved vessels are turned on a wood lathe to maximum 1/8” wall thickness, and then hand carved using a dental drill. Although Don uses the traditional carving tools for certain pieces he has found it almost impossible to carve thin pieces using these tools. Thus, the dental drill is used since it turns at 400,000 RPM and puts almost no pressure on the piece. Most of the pierced carved pieces are done free hand without a pre-sketched pattern.

    Don, a lifelong hobbyist in woodworking, began serious woodturning in 1990 and set a goal to become a world class woodturner. He has taken hands-on turning courses from: Rude Osolnik, David Ellsworth, Ray Key, Ron Fleming, Stony Lamar, Michael Peterson, AL Stirt, and Frank Sudol.

    In recent years there had been so much demand for Don’s works that he could not catch up. He stopped doing shows and took time out to check his priorities. “Do I produce those things that are the simplest and most popular to meet demand, or do I truly try to be creative and produce one of a kind quality art pieces?” Don has chosen the latter with his focus being on Art.