Accession Number
2002/2.119

Title
Untitled vessel

Artist(s)
Ray Allen

Object Creation Date
1995

Medium & Support
mesquite, satinwood, bloodwood, rosewood, curly maple, ebony, dyed veneer

Dimensions
25 1/2 x 29 x 29 in. (64.77 x 73.66 x 73.66 cm);25 1/2 in. (64.77 cm);x 29 x 29 in. x 73.66 x 73.66 cm

Credit Line
Gift of Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen

Label copy
March 28, 2009
After nearly thirty years as a carpenter, Ray Allen retired to Yuma, Arizona; there the southwestern traditions of pottery moved Allen, a self-taught woodturner, and stirred his imagination. “My inspiration,” he wrote, “came from prehistoric and present day Southwest pottery,” and his goal became to capture its elegant forms and intricate designs in wood. To do this he used the technique of segmented woodturning, in which a mosaic of different types of wood pieces are formed into rings and glued together to make a whole with a stunning chromatic range. Starting from the bottom, Allen added rings, one at a time, and each was turned and sanded to the proper diameter. Once formed, the vessel was shaped on a large lathe, creating an elegant silhouette with undulating curves and multiple registers of pattern. Lastly, the interior was turned to the desired wall thickness for the size of the finished piece—a tribute to the “everlasting beauty,” in the artist’s words, of the pottery that inspired it and a virtuoso display of the woodturner’s art.

Subject matter
This vessel was made first by gluing together small pieces of different woods and then turning the entire piece, leaving the pattern created by the pieces of wood in the finished surface. Allen was influenced by the Native American pottery of the Southwest and tried to reproduce its forms and decorative motifs in wood.

Physical Description
A bulbous vessel with a narrow base and wide mouth that is flanged. The vessel is made up of small, glued pieces of wood that are then turned, creating an intricate pattern in the wood's fine, finished surface. The predominate decorations are bands of diamonds and triangles that run around the widest point of the vessel and beneath the flanged mouth.
Large wood vessel with rings of Native American-inspired design patterns

Primary Object Classification
Wood and Woodcarving

Primary Object Type
vessel

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
Native American
geometric patterns
vessels (containers)
wood (plant material)