Sean Gillespie-Biography

[about] [artists] [gillespie] [events] [contact] [home]

Sean Gillespie

"I love everything about wood; from the distinct qualities of each species to the way it smells when it is carved. My designs feature the innate beauty of wood. Its surprising grain and color variation gives me an inexhaustible source of inspiration." states Sean Gillespie.

“I found what was missing many years later while living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For fun, I enrolled in a Fine Woodworking class at Santa Fe Community College. There I discovered the tactile experience of designing with, shaping and manipulating wood. I was enamored with this new, three-dimensional material. I earned a Certificate of Fine Woodworking in 2003, and upon completion of my degree, I was honored with an invitation to teach fine woodworking classes at SFCC.

“Growing up I spent most of my time sketching in the margins of my notebooks and textbooks. I received early encouragement by winning a high school art scholarship award. I took that scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio in 1994. While in school I won a lettering and design internship and went on to design everything from computer animations to t-shirts. I learned to see the world graphically and enjoyed breaking things down to their simplest forms, but something was always missing in the work I was doing.”

“Over the next few years of teaching and commissioning work, I became more interested in the parts of the furniture I was creating than in the final product. I found that I was assembling sculptural forms and some of these forms could stand on their own as fine art. I started experimenting with color, metal and textured surfaces. I took art, sculpture and bronze casting classes and began showing my work in juried shows and local galleries. By following my interests, I expanded myself as a designer, a furniture maker, a sculptor, and ultimately an artist.”

Sean gets his ideas from architectural details, landscapes, people, and music. He takes the world around him, breaks it into raw graphic elements and captures that expression in fine and exotic hardwoods. Each piece of wood is chosen for its singular character, grain, and color.
The work is composed with the lathe, steel, torches, pigment and unconventional use of traditional woodworking tools. Gillespie uses his carving tools like a painter uses a brush. Gestures and strokes create pattern and form.
People might think of wood as tough and solid; actually, it’s a living medium, one that moves with the seasons, and the grain is very responsive. The wood records the movement of the artist's hands, capturing the moment of creation.