About the Artist

Charlie Saulenas has been working with wood for most of his life. His interest in trees started at a young age, and they were a frequent subject of his photography as a young man. During a stint in architecture school, he studied lumber as a building material but found himself more interested in its potential as a creative medium for sculpture. After an apprenticeship as a model-maker in a toy design shop, Charlie fell in love with the lathe.

Charlie found work in New York’s fast-paced world of graphic presentation design, but always looked forward to creating furniture and cabinets in his shop on the weekend. Before long, he found his way back to the lathe, and turning wood became his escape from the tedium of office life.

Charlie finds stock at his local recycling center. He has never cut down a tree for his turnings—he works with what he can salvage. Part of the excitement for Charlie is finding the beauty in what others have thrown away.

Being in New Jersey, Charlie has access to a lot of hardwoods such as Walnut, Cherry, Maple, Cedar, Sycamore, Beech, and Oak. After finding some exotic woods on Craigslist and at trade shows, Charlie’s color palette has expanded to include Redwood, Rosewood, Bubinga, Ebony and Zebrawood, among others.