dad's work

here are pictures of a fireplace my father had built in the Baptistown Baptist Church, in Baptistown NJ back in the late 70s, as a memorial to my eldest brother Greg. He merges his three passions here, a skill and deft eye for blue jingle stone masonry and his love of American Black Walnut and the lines of Colonial and Federal furniture. His carvings are heavily influenced by Chippendale, along with his own history of leather tooling. The subject of two of the carvings are Irises... the bane of my youth. rows and rows of iris beds... uhhhhggg.

It was a homecoming in a very real sense, since our family had sold the lovely stone house he had built for himself - I can rarely see that stone treatment.

He was in the shop for hours into the night on his furniture, after long days building as a mason... he was a driven fellow. constantly creating - a great role model.

did i mention he could paint?

z