Warnock’s woodworking delights at 2017 Art Harvest Tour

0
2466
Shoeless but never bootless, Joe Warnock, master woodworker of the Greenwood Works studio in Boone County north of Perry, was the leading light of this year's Art Harvest Tour, sponsored by the Art on the Prairie Committee. His faithful dogs, left, welcomed all visitors.

Joe Warnock

Many were the beauties of the 2017 Art Harvest Tour, sponsored by the Art on the Prairie Committee, but the works of Joe Warnock, master woodworker and the moving spirit of the Greenwood Works studio at 493 310th St., carried the day.

Looking whippet thin in his light gray lounge pants and white pullover — a contrast to the plump and playful pair of golden retrievers at his side — Warnock offered an informal tour of the workshop-studio and living rooms at his four-acre homestead that stands deep in the rural fastnesses of Boone County.

It would take a fellow woodworker to do justice to the quality of Warnock’s creations and adequately to describe the virtual wizardry of this past master’s gifts, and I am no woodworker. Suffice it to say that in a world of dilettantes and dabblers, Warnock’s art attains to a rigorous discipline seldom seen. The man could mortice the doors of heaven.

Two-dimensional beauty was also seen on the Art Harvest Tour, including the paintings of Olesya D. Maupin, a native of Kazakhstan, whose controlled-drip works show the influence of the American post-impressionist Jackson Pollock.

Maupin appeared delighted to meet Carol Jackson-Cavanaugh and Dirk Cavanaugh of Perry, who lived for a number of years in the central Asian country.

A recently acquired job press, housed in the basement of Betsy Peterson Designs, was the center of attention for the hand-made letterpress art of Rick von Humboldt of rural Perry. Among the admirers of von Holdt’s work was Taryn Nehring, 10, of Perry, who toured with her grandmother, Julie Scheib of Perry, and great-aunt, Claudia Scheib Merlino of Maryland.

Block printer David Bounds of Madrid, a Drake University graduate in fine arts, also exhibited a few of his works in the basement of Betsy Peterson Designs during Saturday’s art tour. Bounds said he will direct this winter’s Perry print festival.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.