Bill Essex

Raised by an art teacher and a woodworker, I was blessed with professional instruction in design and craftsmanship. Through 34 years in the Air Force, I achieved the rank of Major General but had little time to pursue creative works. After retirement, I started a business which left even less time. Covid 19 lockdowns changed all that and gave an opportunity for a long-held desire to create art with wood lathe and carving tools. Over the next few years, I studied under the best in the country, like David Ellsworth, John Tisdale, and John Cahall. I learned a great deal from each of them and developed my own style along the way. I create many pieces in Texas but do most of my work in a 150-year-old carriage house converted to a woodshop in the historic village of Freedom, New Hampshire. I am always on the lookout for fallen trees, whether in Texas or New England. My style is to create classic forms incorporating natural features and unique characteristics in carefully chosen wood. It takes literally hundreds of hours to create one of my large hollowforms, from finding the right log, hauling, cleaning, rough shaping, hollowing, drying, and on to a perfect finish. A distinguishing feature of my work is painstaking attention to the finish applied to the pieces. Nothing leaves my shop unless I would be proud to display it in my own home. Most of the largest pieces are enhanced by a museum-quality 10-15 layer clear finish. This invites one to see deeply into the wood’s grain patterns and swirls. Other pieces are given a very smooth satiny finish which reveals in a different way the intrinsic connection between the art and nature itself. This journey has come to satisfy in me the creative energy long left waiting to emerge. My aim now is for others to enjoy and be blessed by each creation.