A tree is a selfless mentor inspiring me to reveal its beauty, its truth. It feels right to work it. It feels bigger than me. It humbles me with its soulful timely patience, thriving and dying at the same time.  The tree gives me a feeling of connection, both gentle and real. I learn from the revealing mortal grain. This is my sculptural journey. Carving wood is in my genetic make up. I appreciate the relationship between man and tree. There is a co-evolution present. I am interested in  how man uses the forest and how the relationship grows and thrives in worldly cultures.  My curiosity has taken me as far as South Africa and Hawaii were indigenous people believe the forest is a spiritual place where ancestors dwell. My work is an experiment in form and aesthetic.  I try to design  a vessel consistent with the flow of life, a repetitive design of nature bursting with cycles and revolutions. My process is hard and consuming like tending a crop. The results should reveal the tree’s character and spirit. My work is observations of science and nature disguised by soul philosophy. I toggle between these realms creating art,  hoping to form a sense of connection that is necessary and lasting.

 - Brad Sells