Gordon Knight
by Helen Johnson
Gordon Knight uses a lathe, but he doesn't call himself a woodturner. 'I'm a wood artist,' he says.
He feels strongly about this and his wife, Carol, explains: 'people expect wood to be functional. But art doesn't have to be functional: the purpose of the items Gordon makes is to enhance people's living environment. People don't look at a painting and ask, 'what do you do with it?', but often people look at Gordon's work and ask that question. The answer is 'you look at it. It's a feature of your home.'
Gordon rarely sees other work like his, and he believes this is because he is self-taught. 'Seven years ago, I took early retirement,' he says. 'I saw a chap with a lathe at a country show, turning lace bobbins. I thought I might have a go at that. The following week, my wife presented me with a lathe.'
'I played around in the garage and learned. I started on tiny little stuff, and gradually moved bigger,' he says.
Carol comments, 'I think it's because you're always looking at what else can you do, and pushing at the boundaries of what you can do.'
Gordon agrees, 'I don't do commissions, because I turn the wood when it's green, and I can't guarantee that it won't break as it dries.' This can take up to two years - a long time to discover that a commission has broken.
'So,' he says,
'I make what I like, and if others like it too, then that's great. If they don't, it's still great and I still enjoyed doing it.'
Since Gordon always pushes at technical boundaries, he does get breakages. 'If it breaks, I think about why it didn't work, then put it on the fire and move on. There's no point getting upset over it,' he says.
'But wanting to find out how far I can go - how big, how deep, doesn't go away. So the piece I'm working on at the moment is always the most exciting. Once it's made it into the gallery, it doesn't interest me any more. By then, it's two to four years old, and I've moved on.' Therefore, the work on the lathe is bigger than the work in the gallery.
He adds, 'learning the turning was only about a quarter of the science of how to make these vessels. The seasoning [drying] was a steep learning curve. I found out by trial and error, and there are so many variables that
I wouldn't like to advise anyone else.'
Once the vessels are seasoned, Gordon gives them surface finish of several coats of finishing oil, followed by paste wax. 'I don't colour anything,' he says.
Carol is proud of Gordon's work. 'It's a conservation exercise - it's all storm damaged trees that would otherwise be firewood,' she says.
Gordon adds, 'I don't use imported timber - only British hardwoods and fruitwoods. It's impossible to make two things the same. I might cut to the same shape, but the colour and texture of the wood will be different.
Carol comments, 'I've been stunned at the variety and beauty of the wood. I had never realised there was so much variety in wood - and these are all different.'
In 2004, Carol's job led them to relocate from Southampton to Yorkshire, and they began searching for a workshop where they could open a gallery as well. They found a place in a village near Northallerton. 'I particularly liked the fact that there was viewing window,' he says, 'but it needed some work to tidy it up and make a gallery.'
Following that work, their gallery opened in May 2005. 'The idea to do this evolved over a long time,' says Gordon. 'It all started with a problem: what to do with all the work I made. You can't give it all to friends and family: it's too much for them.
'So, I had to accept that I had to do what I didn't want to do, and sell it.'
They began selling at craft shows, 'just to move stuff on,' says Carol.
However, what they learned at craft shows changed their ideas. 'When you've made something, and someone comes and gives you hundreds of pounds for it, it changes your concept,' says Gordon.
Seeing other products and talking to other workers developed their ideas. 'We rarely see anything else like Gordon's work. These are things that people can't get anywhere else,' says Carol.
And Gordon says that comments from two other artists were pivotal in his development: one from a jeweller who told him he couldn't move on until he thought of himself as an artist, and another from a sculptor who told him he liked his work for its simplicity of form.
So when the couple fitted out their gallery, they had the confidence 'to build a place that we'd like to go to, rather than try to second guess a mass market,' says Carol. 'There will be other people like us. And we can't supply a mass market anyway: Gordon can only make two vessels a week, and they take two years to season.'
In the gallery, other artists' supplement Gordon's work. 'We wanted work created in other media in our gallery, so that people who don't like wood can choose something else,' explains Carol.
She adds, 'we want a range of different media, but quality and exclusivity is important to us. We select carefully.' Gordon is also keen to show work from new talents.
'But,' he adds, 'we're not simply a shop and we encourage visitors. I've realised that the greatest advertising is word of mouth. So if people come and talk but don't buy, that doesn't matter. Because they will go away and talk to others - and eventually, that will lead to sales.'
Although it is early days, Gordon says, 'feedback so far says it will be unbelievably successful.
And Gordon's tip for success? 'You have to spend hours failing your way to success,' he says. 'The only formula is to do what you want until you become good at it. Concentrate on the things you do well but have in mind that everything counts.'
