❒ ‘Figure, Form, Function,’ exhibit of local wood sculptor’s work, opens Saturday

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Jack Ruszel, close to finishing a large spiral piece of artwork that dominates the main room of downtown’s Gallery 621, speaks as he works.

The piece, constructed of about 140 wedge-cut pieces of wood, is fitted together with dowels and wood screws — a complex, ornate work of craftsmanship — and Ruszel has worked through the week to finish it in time for the opening of his new exhibit of wood sculpture, “Figure, Form, Function: Sculpture & Design.”

“It’s like a piece of paper,” he said of the huge spiral. “It’s about as strong as that. It’s strong in some ways, and really weak in others. Figuring out how to make it work is the fun challenge.”

There are braces on the spiral, but Ruszel said once he gets it all together it should stand on its own.

Emphasis on should.

“Here’s the scary part: It might not,” he laughed. “I’ve never made one of these before.”

Chances are good for a good result. Woodwork is what Ruszel does for his art as well as his livelihood.

As owner of Ruszel Woodworks in the Industrial Park, he utilizes methods from his business in his sculptural work — and vice versa. The idea for the unnamed wood spiral came from his production shop, where they make a lot of boxes.

“We’d stack boxes, and they would get askew. There’s such a beautiful curve when they get askew,” Ruszel said.

“This piece, it’s a direct comment on that.”

The piece, like so many of his others, is inspired by — or in Ruszel’s phrase, stolen from — nature.

“You look at plants that grow by continuously adding on the same piece, they go around. Palm trees do that, they just spiral up. Succulents are obvious that way,” he said.

“As an artist it is easy to steal from nature.”

He said for his show, he tried to bring together three parts of his woodwork: his recent sculptural work, the geometric sculpture that he has been working on for years “but never have taken to this level,” and his furniture.

“I started looking at what was going in in my shop, and I had all these three different pieces going on,” he said. “I had sculptures there, I had some of the tables and stools, and the chairs I was working on. I realized, ‘Oh, this stuff really does connect. I should do a show that shows all those aspects.’”

Some of the pieces are figure sculpture that Ruszel created long ago, on new pedestals he created just for them. A series of “figurescapes” adorn the walls, loosely inspired by artist Stan Dann, who passed away May 8.

“He’s done all this beautiful work with the wall pieces,” Ruszel said. “What gets me about it is not how he does it structurally, but visually, how he makes it really impactful. So I’ve been playing with that same concept.”

Then there are the chairs.

They sit against one of the walls in the gallery, examples of designs Ruszel has been working on — and the direction he hopes to take Ruszel Woodworks.

Currently at his shop, he and the other artisans make a lot of displays for the wine industry. “We make a lot of stuff that’s throw-away, and it’s been making me nuts because … I make a good living, there’s a lot of people that I employ that are making a decent living doing this. But we’re not a part of the solution. We’re part of the problem.

“So I’m looking and thinking, what can I do that’s going to make a big difference? Well, we should make things that are really worthwhile. Furniture is something that people need,” he said.

Ruszel cites the “slow food” movement as instrumental in the way that people think about food, the value of having food that is grown and sold locally. “You know where it comes from, you know what it is. You know that the people working on those farms are getting decent wages.

“We need to embrace that all over,” he said.

In that vein, he is displaying the prototype for chairs his shop will produce. “We’re putting all this time and effort into making throwaway items, and it seems to me I can value my employees much more, give them a lot more value for what they’re doing, and make something that will last,” Ruszel said. “Make chairs that will last, will be heirloom quality.”

The challenge over the last couple years has been figuring out how to achieve a transition. “We have the winery groups asking us to make this stuff, so we have that momentum, and breaking that momentum is almost impossible. Because as soon as you stop you can’t pay anybody.”

But making items that will last is one small way to make life in America better overall, he said.

Art is another.

“You know what we need to do? We need to grow our own foods, make our own products, make our own energy … and we can do all of these things, we’re smart enough to do that. But it’s way easier to do what we’ve been doing,” he said.

“That’s what I’ve been thinking about when I do this stuff. Does this big giant spiral do anything to make the world a better place? No, it gives me time to think, is what it does,” he laughed.

“The interesting thing about art, is often people are doing stuff that we could look at and say, ‘We don’t need that, what’s that doing? That’s not doing us any good.’

“(But) the creative process does us a huge amount of good. I think art really makes our lives better. It helps us to open up our thought process to see things in more ways,” he said.

If You Go
The opening reception for Jack Ruszel’s “Figure, Form, Function” will be Saturday from 6-9 p.m. at Gallery 621, 621 First St.