b. 1947
Master Woodturner
Dallas artist Ted Knight became a woodturner almost 40 years ago when his junior high school wood shop teacher told him that his proposed lathe project, a long stemmed goblet, would be impossible to make. “That experience lit a fire in me,” says Knight, and inspired him to pursue woodworking as a career. He became an architect and designer, but eventually tired of commercial work and has been a full-time artist since 1993.
Each of Knight’s vessels measures 20 to 30 inches in diameter and takes about two years to produce. He works on a lathe that he personally built to accommodate large vessels. He also has made most of his own tools. His raw materials are solid logs that often weigh as much as 600 pounds. His finished pieces usually weigh about 15 pounds although several of his works are considerably heavier. Spalted hackberry, sycamore, mesquite, ponderosa, and woods from the Pacific Northwest and those indigenous to his Dallas home are among the woods he prefers.
The skill of woodturning requires time to perfect but even after years of practice, Knight says it can be an unpredictable process. “One slip can turn two years of preparation into firewood in a split second. Unlike clay or molten glass, you can’t put the wood back together and start over. One shot is all you get.”
His wooden vessels have a modern look with sleek lines and smooth surfaces. Crafted from solid logs, each vessel is further enhanced by Knight’s own custom varnishes and exquisite finishes which coax out the natural beauty of the wood grain.
