Andrew Potocnik

Ever since childhood, whenever I wanted or needed to make something, I found wood to be the first material I turned to.  It wasn’t always the best choice, but it was a material I felt comfortable with, and one that I could convert into whatever I needed.

At high school, I met a teacher who encouraged creative use of wood, setting convention aside in order to encourage aspects that were radical at that time.  He encouraged me to salvage and recycle wood and to appreciate wood for its colour, smell, feel and grain and any other intrinsic quality it may have.

With an introduction like this, where else could I go, but continue to explore all those wonderful qualities every piece of wood conceals, just needing a sympathetic cut to expose it to those who see it as nothing more than a renewable resource, ready to be exploited, rather than appreciated.

Now, I gain enormous enjoyment from seeing how people from other cultures explore their wood, how they expose and celebrate its beauty, and how it is integrated into their culture and general existence.

As an artist, I continually find inspiration to explore new directions in creating objects from wood.

As a teacher, I try to pass information on to my students, hoping that they too will be inspired to explore wood.  Celebrating it as a living material that grows around us, as a material that can give voice to ideas conjured in our minds, as a material that says something about our culture and world.