Photos of "Sea Treasure," "Red Holly Pierced," "Clownin' Around," and Gilpin at the lathe.
Traditionally, the words “software engineer” and “artist” are rarely found together in one sentence, let alone one person. But for Buren Gilpin, the two careers are anything but opposites. In fact, Gilpin finds balance and inspiration from both fields.
Buren Gilpin is a wood-worker living in Wall. He uses wood to create sculptures inspired primarily by nature. After retiring from a career as a software engineer about eight years ago, Gilpin began sculpting from wood. He says his art satisfies two different parts of himself.
“I’m an engineer by training, and something that involves a lot of technical skills is of interest to me,” he says. “But then there’s this creative side where you are just creating something special that nobody’s done before, and something that’s truly yours. Both of those dimensions really appeal to me.”
Throughout his life, Gilpin created furniture, but never found the time to develop his wood working skills. When he discovered the lathe though, he says he “flourished.”
Gilpin describes the lathe as a potter’s wheel for woodwork. It lays wood horizontally and spins it can be sculpted into different vessels. He finds the machine exciting and inspiring.
“As you start with something like that, you tend to be kind of traditional and craft-like in what you do,” he says. “But as I got going with it, it gave me a chance to let my creative side develop a little bit.”
One of Gilpin’s pieces takes about a month to create. After bringing a log into his studio, which is located in his basement, he cuts it down using a chainsaw, works with it on the lathe, and then begins detail work.
Gilpin is inspired by artists like Binh Pho and Dixie Biggs, as well his mentor Bill Stephenson. His wife Christina is helpful in critiquing his pieces. Gilpin’s other inspiration for his pieces comes from nature, especially the nature he encounters living at the shore.
“I love the sea life, sea shells, trees and leaves,” he says. “When you are looking at a shape or the surface of something, it has a texture to it. You are always thinking: ‘how does that relate to what I’m doing?”
Right now, Gilpin is working on vessels with fish pierced through the walls of the pieces. He is constantly developing his ideas.
“You are always thinking, what’s the next evolution of the idea?” He says. “It will just be a matter of getting to the equipment and the wood, and actually making it happen.”
Buren Gilpin can be reached by phone at 908-902-1193 or email bcgilpin@msn.com. His work can be viewed online at www.sunsetcoveartstudios.com. He can also be found on the MCAC’s artist registry.
