The Best of Wood Sculpture Art: Eleanor Lakelin

Eleanor Lakelin, one of the best European master artisans, is a London based artist dedicated to wood sculpture who grew up in a rural area of Wales immersed in nature. This understanding and love of natural material transformed her artistic life.

Eleanor Lakelin at work ©The Turners Company

She loves wood, its history and origin and the fact that it is a living material. She has spent many years perfecting form and experimenting with how the properties of wood can be used to express the rhythm of time and our relationship with earth.

“Echoes of Amphora” (2018), made with Horse Chestnut Burr ©Ester Segarra

Eleanor exhibits a lot of her precious art pieces internationally and her artworks won many awards and commendations. Her wood sculptures are present in numerous prestigious collections worldwide.

“Basaltes Vessels” (2017), Time & Texture, made using Sequoia wood. Exhibited at ‘Rhythm of Time’ Konsthantverkarna in Stockholm, 2017. ©Eleanor Lakelin

The initial shape of her wood sculptures is created by turning wood on a lathe. The shape is then sandblasted and chiseled. Finally, the wood is treated with an iron solution to react with the tannic acid content of the wood.

“Ferrous Shift Standing” (2018), Time & Texture Series, made using Sequoia wood. ©Eleanor Lakelin

Eleanor’s distinctive shapes are created to represent the passage of time engraved into the fibres of wood. She explores her fascination with the natural properties of this material using a traditional woodworking lathe, centuries-old chisels and gouges alongside modern techniques and tools.

National Trust Commission, Duke of Wellington’s Tree, Time & Texture, Cedar, Various, Exhibited at Kingston Lacy, 2015. ©Eleanor Lakelin

Wood source has a particular importance to Eleanor, who only uses wood from trees felled in the British Isles, in particular ash and horse chestnut burr. She loves the fact that wood is not inert, it is living and has been living for centuries before our lifetime.

“Void Vessel” (2015), Contours of Nature, made with Horse Chestnut Burr. ©Eleanor Lakelin

It is important to her to have a dialogue and relationship with the material in order to work with it properly. Her forms are born from ideas such as the exploration of texture. Eleanor will pick a wood with properties that permit her to develop her idea to its fullest. Her works express erosion, the rhythm of time and the layers and fissures between creation and decay.

Sarah Myerscough Gallery at Design Miami/ Basel 2017 ©James Harris

Ferrous Shift (2018) is a handcarved and hollowed vessel that was sculpted from a single piece of sequoia. Sequoia grows at a specific density during different times of the year and this property of the material has been used to transform the texture of the piece. A lathe is used to turn the initial shape and to hollow it out. It is then chiselled and sand blasted to expose the sinuous pattern formed by the uneven growth of the wood.

“Ferrous Shift”, Time & Texture, by Eleanor Lakelin, made using Sequoia wood ©Ester Segarra

“Ferrous Shift” Detail ©Ester Segarra

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