Jeremy Turner
Art Forms
Wood
Biography
Graduating with a sculpture BA from Bristol Polytechnic in 1970, I went to live in Wales where I learned about farming, building, and carpentry. My first carvings were made from chunks of firewood purchased from the local sawmill. The hippy idyll had to end and by 1977 I had trained as a teacher in London and was teaching woodwork in a Hackney secondary school. After enduring this for two years I went self-employed, making sash windows and wardrobes, and quite a bit of sculpture. Then I moved to Gawcott, near Buckingham, where I turned my woodcarving into a business with an Enterprise Allowance Scheme grant in 1985. What inspired me was a gift from Mexico – a painted carved wooden fish. I was struck by its crude vitality and knew I wanted to make things like this.
As well as carving dishes and bowls I have done a lot of relief carving and construction of sculptural furniture and 3D objects. Commissions have kept me busy with relief panels for schools, hospitals and care homes, signage for homes and offices, signs for villages and towns, carved benches and seating, carved bed headboards and commemorative objects and monuments for green burial sites.
Over the years I have delivered woodcarving experiences with children and adults in many varied contexts, from primary schools to open air holiday projects, libraries and village halls. Most recently, in June 2022, I worked with local residents during two sessions to carve mementos of the Queens Platinum Jubilee in Wing Village Hall. Currently I tutor the Monday Woodcarvers at Queens Park Arts Centre, Aylesbury.