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Fox Couple Statuette 002/2024
Foxes - maple, microcrystalline wax
Base - sapele, shellac, oil, wax
~4" x 1.5" x 1.75"

My carved foxes are based on a traditional Japanese toy and Shinto totem design I first read about in Bill Copperthwaite's book A Handmade Life. The carving process is a beguiling one that lends itself to the way I enjoy working—there is a good bit of unpredictability and it requires that I adapt to the nature and behavior of the material. The foxes are always carved in groups, usually of eight, with the blanks for a single group split from a section of a small tree or limb.

These foxes are carved from a youngish maple tree (about 20 years old) I harvested this summer while teaching in Maine. The series of steps that I take each fox through in the carving process yields something a little different each time. I spend a lot of time refining the lines of each fox so that each one has it's own subtle personality. My goal is always to retain the spontaneity of the material while guiding it toward proportions and features that convey a quiet sense of alert attentiveness.

Pairs of foxes like these are carved from adjacent blanks within a single section of the tree. They are fixed permanently together and to the little sapele plinth that holds them.