There are very, very few artists or sculptors who have developed their own unique and immediately recognizable style.

J Christopher White is one of them.

Chris studied wildlife biology at Texas Tech, and spent five years studying human anatomy at the National Institute of Fine Arts in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajato (Mexico). Both experiences are evident in his work in several themed families - western art, bird sculptures, fish sculptures, Christian art, human forms and abstract sculpture.

Chris's wood sculpture "becomes Christian art not by virtue of the subject matter, but with the addition of Christian poetry written particularly for each piece."

Shown at right is his sculpture "In Turn", from West Texas juniper on mesquite. The wingspan is 52". Although a Colorado resident, Chris travels to Texas several times a year to collect wood.

Here's how Chris's Web site describes his art:
"If one word could be used to sum up the style of J. Christopher White's sculptures it would be movement. While wood sculpture has traditionally been cast as static, stiff or massive, White's use of S-curves, negative spaces, and fluid lines into shimmering ribbons of wood, has broken the mold stepping out of the cast and into the halls of fine art.

"Each piece requires the welcome challenge of obtaining the wood. Often weeks of hunting the canyon ledges for just the right shape is involved. Cutting and removing these aged relics usually requires rappelling or dangerous descents and ascents, and always a lot of hard work and prayer. The process, from fallen tree to finished sculpture, is chronicled on film to allow the viewer a greater appreciation of the overall piece.

"Even in selecting the wood, great attention is given to movement. Every line and plane has a function in the design and draws the eye around, through or ultimately to the focal point of the sculpture. Some forms and lines provide environment for the subject, others give illusions of speed, grace or movement. While easily recognized for his glass like finish and painstaking selection of only the most beautiful woods, it is White's masterful use of the grain patterns in the wood and the inherent shapes of the tree that sets his work apart and augments his memorable designs."

For the Joy of It...
It's not very often that we get the chance to watch a master carver at work. Chris affords us this opportunity on his Web site, where he has several series of photos showing the birth of various beautiful works in step-by-step sequences. Below, Woodezine has reproduced one of these series. The images on Chris's Web site are larger, of higher quality, and well worth a visit. (http://www.jchristopherwhite.com/creating_a_masterpiece.htm)

This piece, called "For the Joy of It", was executed in West Texas juniper on black walnut. It stands 31" tall and was completed in 1988.

Chris's "signature style of realism flowing into stylized forms and ultimately abstract bands of fluid twist and spins" has continually won him top honors at national and international competitions, Including Best of Show at the International Woodcarvers' Congress in 1994.

The poetry which completes his work is very spiritual in nature. The poem below accompanies the piece at right (Single Vision). There are many more examples of Chris's work on his Web site.

Linked together by a dream,
a purpose, or a goal,
yet there's something more required
to make two halves a whole.

An institution straight from God,
the first which He ordained,
should not through our hard-heartedness
be treated with disdain.

For God knows what is best for us,
He knows what feeds the soul.
He gives a simple plan to us
to keep a marriage whole.

And so with eyes fixed on the Lord
by trying to outgive
the gift He's made you one with,
that soul with which you live.

The following is a list of galleries and museums which display Chris' work: