Bill and Susan Carey WHAT Woodturner (Bill) and Mixed Media Sculptor (Susan) WHERE Carey Craft, 2393 Thomas A. Dolan Parkway, Carp; 839-2747 SHOWS Red Trillium Studio Tour, May 17th and 18th, 10am - 5pm Carey Craft, 2393 Thomas A. Dolan Parkway, Carp WHY Bill: "I wanted something more free-flow than engineering." Susan: "Sculpting is exciting - I learn things about myself."   See samples of Bill's & Susan's work

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Bill and Susan Carey - Free Flow
By Sally Hansen

This month's featured artists give new meaning to the old saw "What goes around comes around". Today Bill and Susan Carey are well known in West Carleton and beyond for their respective talents as a woodturner and a sculptor, but when they met at a Carp Ridge social in 1976, Bill was a telecom engineer and Susan was a teacher with the Carleton Board. During the intervening years, the couple traveled extensively as Bill's career with CUSO, CIDA and the Swedish equivalent of CIDA took them to Australia, Mauritius and many countries in Africa.

Their art is consistent with their lifestyle. Bill's passion is turning burls, roots and unusual or rare woods into beautiful and unique objects, and Susan's is sculpting figures that combine clay, wood, and other natural materials. Even their architecture expresses this artistic couple's desire and ability to work with nature. Their home, studio and outbuilding on the Carp Ridge use passive and active solar energy, and their indoor and outdoor gardens are further testimony to their commitment to produce as well as consume.

A Journey of Discovery
Both find excitement and satisfaction in working with their chosen media because their art affords endless opportunity for exploration and discovery. Susan credits a stay in England with launching her artistic endeavours. There she had the opportunity to take a solid week of one-on-one pottery training with Brian Newman, a member of the Assn. of British Craftsmen. Later she was accepted into a four-year arts program in Australia, even though they knew she was only able to attend for one year. She describes her highly original sculptures as "an amalgamation of life experiences as mother, grandmother, wife, friend, sculptor, photographer, gardener, weight trainer, painter and traveler". I recognized influences from her stays in Tanzania, but was unable to conjecture how her exposure to the cultures of Lesotho, Mauritius, and Australia might have found their way into her current mixed media sculptures.

Her clay faces are fascinating and evocative. As I question her about a current work in progress, Susan responds that the figure was not preconceived; she emerged. Susan's sculpting helps her to discover where she's been and to define who she is at any given moment. "That's what makes art so exciting - when you learn something about yourself. When I listen to people looking at my art rather than telling them about it, that's when I learn the most. Different people interpret my pieces totally differently". Susan's appetite for experiencing new things is evident in her work. She is creating new metal and glass garden sculptures, and is planning on incorporating water into her outdoor pieces.

Free Flow
When Bill retired from a satisfying but exhausting series of assignments in developing countries, he wanted to try his hand at something different. "Engineering is creative, but it's very structured. I wanted to explore something that is much more free-flow." He bought a cheap lathe and practiced technique. "I turned a lot of firewood into - firewood." In the process he upgraded his lathe and mastered the techniques of his craft to the point that his work has been on display at the Gift Shop of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinsburg, at the Guild Shop (Ontario Craft Council) in Toronto, and a piece has been presented by the Ottawa Board of Trade to Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

Like his adventurous wife, he soon "branched out" from the traditional turned objects taught in classes to create unique, free-form pieces that reveal his talent for seeing and realising the potential of the particular piece of wood he is working on. When he shows me a grass tree root (before) and the marvellous bowl he has sculpted from a similar piece (after), I wonder at his gift for envisioning the beauty concealed within the gnarled, totally unprepossessing (to me), dull hunk of wood that fired his imagination. This gift is evident in all his pieces, but I am particularly drawn to the original forms that emerge from his lathe when he works on tortured burls of big leaf maple and manzanita. He excels at creating pieces that expose and enhance the beauty of the natural material he works with.

Stop No. 3 of the Red Trillium Studio & Garden Tour
Although the motto of the CareyCraft showroom is "We're open if we're in," the Red Trillium Studio & Garden Tour taking place May 17th and May 18th provides a great opportunity to see Bill's and Susan's works. Fellow West Carleton artisans Janet Potter (stained glass) and Joanie and Jim Lindamood (wood carving) will also be displaying their works as guests of the Careys at 2393 Thomas Dolan Parkway in Carp from 10AM to 5PM both days. The tour website at www.redtrilliumst.com provides a map as well as information about the artisans, or you can contact Catharine at 839-2793.

You can contact them at wcarey@compmore.net, or call 839-2747.