Student finds art in wood, lathe

By Samantha Ganey

Daily Staff Reporter

Firewood ignites Dan Erickson's passion for art. Erickson, the Exhibit Designer for the University's Natural History Museum, knows that when trees are cut down on campus he will have the opportunity to hand-craft the wood into pieces of art.

From a woodpile on North Campus, Erickson selects a favorite piece to turn into bowls and furniture with his lathe.

Erickson's woodturning career has generated 73 pieces of work now on display at the Ann Arbor Art Center, the Lansing Art Gallery and the Left Bank Gallery in Flint.

Staci Kerman, a former student of Erickson's, admires his ability to create art from firewood. "His sensitivity for recycling and preserving has allowed him to maintain the integrity of the inherent beauty in wood," she said.

Encouraging students to take up hobbies like woodturning, Erickson said students do not know what they are missing "unless you've seen wood chips fly off." A self-starter, Erickson is an inspiration to students. "I like to figure things out by myself. I like to work by myself," he said.

After meeting Erickson in a museum methods course, Kerman recognized the value of Erickson's individualized-artistic perspectives and approaches. "His ability to envision and appreciate what most would view only as scrap wood has allowed him to transcend such pieces into sculptural objects with functional sensibilities," she said.

Erickson occasionally has a special design or idea in mind for a piece of wood. He said his "Treasure Bowl" piece was named because "this particular piece of wood had colors and patterns that I liked, and so I turned it into a form that I felt best displayed this character."

"Upon completion I felt it deserved a special use: To hold and display the various small natural objects I often pick up while on my travels," Erickson said.

Although Erickson named "Treasure Bowl," he said he usually refrains from titling the majority of his pieces due to the various meanings that different viewers may derive from his works. He chooses to write an explanatory paragraph about the piece instead of limiting its meaning with a title.

Natural History Museum exhibit preparator John Klausmeyer depends upon Erickson's ingenuity and resourcefulness to produce creative exhibit designs. "If you need some weird thing, he'll engineer it," he said.

Erickson has relied on all aspects of his education while furthering his artistic career. "I have a background and interest in biology, so I find a lot of artistic applications for it," he said.

Extending education outside the classroom, Erickson has prepared various exhibits for student as well as public viewing.

"We have on display now a couple temporary exhibits which include objects and jewelry from a tropical rain forest, and photographs of fossils. Some of which look more like abstract paintings. We also have many permanent exhibits on prehistoric life, Michigan wildlife, Native American cultures, geology, and even a planetarium," he said.

While getting his doctorate in anthropology at the University, Jim Ahern is one of the former student assistants who worked on exhibits with Erickson.

"With his woodturning and almost every other endeavor, I'm always impressed by Dan's ability to pick up a skill so quickly and not just excel at it but become the best there is," said Ahern, who is now a professor at the University of Wyoming, said.

ABBY ROSENBAUM/Daily

Natural History Museum exhibit designer Dan Erickson creates a work of art from a piece of wood.