About the Artist ~ Arnold Veen

Arnold has always enjoyed being creative and working with his hands. He was employed in the manufacturing sector for 28 years as a welder fitter and then became a CNC programmer for 3 years until the company moved to Mexico. Over 25 years ago he began to explore wood turning and built a lathe from scratch. The boundaries of this exciting new medium were discovered through trial and error and experimentation.

The materials Arnold selects are locally sourced, figured woods and burls. He carefully looks for inner beauty and unique grain patterns. His natural edge creations are sought after and collected for their rustic and irregular appearance. Traditional styles of wood turnings are also made, showing the extraordinary features and life attributed to the various species from our Ontario forests and cities.

Each wood turning has been forged from green, wet wood, hollowed into a rough form and left to air dry for approximately one year. When the roughed form dries and stabilizes, Arnold then remounts it and fine tunes the turning into a unique and creative work of art. Lastly, a food safe finish is applied which allows the items to be functional as well as decorative.

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