When Harry Wicks approaches a piece of wood, he says, it tells him what it "demands" to be. It could be a bowl or a platter or a rolling pin. Whatever the shape, though, Wicks considers his creation a work of art.
"It's no different from painting or doing sculpture in clay. It all comes from the same brain," says Wicks, 70, who graduated from the art and design school at New York's Pratt Institute. His art form - wood turning - wasn't in the curriculum, though.
"I'm self-taught. I always loved working with wood," says Wicks, who has been doing it full-time in his Cutchogue home-studio for the past 15 years. His work is currently being shown and sold at three spots, Blue Door Gallery in Riverhead, Castello di Borghese Vineyard & Winery in Cutchogue and Gallery North in Setauket, as well as at his own studio.
After Pratt, he says, he spent a few years designing homes. His maternal grandfather was a builder, so he'd gotten an early start. His other grandfather had a farm and is part of the Wicks family that still owns farms around Long Island. But farming never appealed to him.
Instead, he says, he gravitated toward journalism, because he likes to write, and being a starving artist wasn't for him. "I had a family. I had to feed the kids." He and his wife, Maureen, lived in Floral Park, and had five children. He edited at several magazines, including Woman's Day, Popular Mechanics and Mechanix Illustrated.
But even then he produced occasional custom pieces.
Wood turning, he says, is not quick work. A friend in the tree business brings him "rescued wood" from trees downed by weather or disease, including cherry, maple and walnut.
After he studies a log to determine what it wants to be, he goes through several rounds of sawing, sealing and drying. Then, after he "rough- turns" a shape, he places it in a paper bag to dry out in his barn. "I'm now working on things I rough-turned in 2003," he says.
If he has to dry something faster, he uses a microwave in his studio - the wood often holds bugs, so the kitchen microwave won't do.
The final touches include sanding, buffing and applying finishes. Recently, he made a bowl of red apples ("a 3-D still life"), a string of onions and a row of mushrooms for a food-related show that Sandi Woessner, owner of Blue Door Gallery in Riverhead, is planning for the spring. His prices range from about $25 (for a bottle stopper, say) to $800. He also gives lessons. "People don't do things themselves the way they did 25 years ago. They consider picking things out at Home Depot doing it themselves."
Harry Wicks' art is at Blue Door Gallery, 40 E. Main St., Riverhead, 631-208-8166; Castello di Borghese Vineyard, Route 48, Cutchogue, 631-734-5111; Gallery North, 90 N. Country Road, Setauket, 631-751-2676; and at his studio, 631-734-5738 or harrywicks.com.
--- Aileen Jacobson
