About the artist

Since very early childhood I have loved this wonderful material of wood. Our backyard trees generously provided me the gift of sticks on the ground, which I could break with my hands or cut on with a pocket knife. I loved the different barks, the smell of cedar, and seeing what was inside fallen limbs of our giant pecan trees. I used my father’s tools to saw and nail old boards even before I started school.

Around the fourth grade a picture on the bottom of a tissue box of a carved American eagle with carving tools forever changed my world.  I bombarded my parents with questions about woodcarving and where to get those wonderful tools. The idea of creating shapes out of wood was new and magical to me. Eventually I acquired some basic carving tools and began to carve a few simple things. I very slowly learned techniques, and very quickly cut my fingers.

Around 12 years old I saw a print of Georgia O’Keeffe’s  painting “Pelvis with Pedernal” on the back of a Readers Digest magazine (inspiration often comes from unlikely places). It made me feel something new inside, and somehow I knew at that moment that she was my favorite artist. She still is.

Carving continued to be an interest, mostly to create realistic objects, but I never thought of myself as an artist. In my late 20’s I happened upon a large abstract sculpture, and similar to my O’Keeffe revelation, for the first time I experienced an awakening that a physical shape could stir emotions.

Years of adult life happened and carving continued as an occasional pastime until one day while drawing a sketch for a carving, I began to flow parts of it together as my own style emerged as if awakened suddenly from a deep sleep. I began to surrender to the idea that I, too, could be an artist, specifically a sculptor. It still took several years to say, out loud, to someone other than my family, that I was a wood sculptor. Upon saying it, I waited for laughter and the sky to fall, and neither happened.

I discovered rotary carving tools could give me the curves and flowing effects I was trying to achieve in my work. It is still just as hands-on and takes as much time as hand tools, maybe more so, at least the way I create. While some purist woodcarvers might say it is cheating, I like to say no one told me the rules, and that I would use an old egg beater if it created the effect I was needing.

I mostly work out of a small workshop my son and I built, my daughter and I stained, thanks to a generous funding gift from my wife. They are all very supportive of me.

I recently retired from a career in social work so I can devote more time to sculpting and other creative projects, and spending time with my family and my rescue dog, Denver.

I look forward to showing my work every September at the wonderful Sculpture Celebration in Lenoir, NC sponsored by the Caldwell Arts Council. And I am very excited to be offering my work for sale through my Etsy site JeffAlbertSculpture.

When someone asks me which of my pieces is my favorite, the answer never changes, it is always the next one.