During the winter of 1963, Mike had a need for a new technique in wood. At the early age of thirteen he had noticed that some components of wood furniture, such as chair legs, were round. Fascinated by this, he began to wonder how they had gotten that way. After nearly a year of study, he began to realise that if he were to find a way to make the wood spin, he would be able to cut it into a round form. His spare time for the rest of that winter was spent making birch dowel miniatures - goblets, light bulbs, marbles, anything round.

Since that time he has used the lathe extensively for furniture parts, antique reproduction and restoration, architectural components, and art objects. In early 1985 he first conceptualized the work you see here in these photographs, such as the zebrawood bowl which may be considered his signature work, since this type of patterning was the first in this body of work.

This first conceptualization served more the purpose of establishing a technique, however, rather than the work, since the real effort was to develop media and technique that would lead to the work of a sculpture that was first conceptualized in 1970. Several attempts ensued in the interim before this track was finally developed. Now, with over 900 objects completed, it is a matter of time and development of ideas, techniques and scale, which will take many more years before the final work is complete.

These objects are grouped in two parts. One is 'segmented' wood, the other is 'organica', the pinecones, proteas, etc. All are lathe turned vessels. Most of these objects are photographed in two or three views - exterior, interior, and translucence (interior illumination).

The segmented vessels are made of hundreds of segments in the case of the smaller, simpler ones, and thousands of segments in the case of the larger, more complicated ones. In these photos, many different species have been used, mostly exotic hardwoods. Sometimes only a single specie is used to create intense patterns, other times four or five species are combined to create even more intense patterns. The interior views of some of these vessels bear an interesting resemblance to the iris of the human eye. No stains or dyes of any kind are used.

The organica genre is comprised of vessels derived from things that grow naturally and contain the object, which must then be "discovered" by the turner. Except for the injected epoxy resin, which is clear, it is a totally subtractive process. The materials include such things as pinecones, protea blossoms, banksia blossoms and nuts, palm trees, thistles, artichokes, and anything else that looks likely. This technique uses a special resin impregnation process developed by the artist for this work.

The central purpose behind these two bodies of work is to simply create imagery that is beautiful and thereby nourishing to the human spirit. The artist finds the lathe to be especially well suited to his purposes. His work through these years is an extension of what he began in childhood. He is primarily self-taught and is skilled in the use of many materials including metals and plastics. He is also proficient in the building trades. It is all still the same now as four decades ago, except now the tools are bigger and the projects are more complex. He found his first love in the lathe at an early age and feels fortunate to be able to proceed through the years with work such as this.