Madeline and Steve Sabo
Painting, Wood Turning and Crafting
Nogal, NM
By Steppin' Out Staff
One of our most interesting and informative visits in the Art Loop Tour was in the wood crafting studio of Madeline and Steve Sabo of Nogal, New Mexico. The studio behind their home is light and airy and filled with the sights, sounds and odors of wood being gradually turned, shaped and polished with the help of Madeline and Steve's gleaming wood lathe.
Madeline is also a talented painter who paints attractive images using somewhat unusual materials. For example, painting we particularly enjoyed contained a cocker spaniel that had been painted on a piece of black fabric and enclosed in a golden frame that nicely highlighted the colors in the painting. Other examples of her paintings appear in the gallery we've created for Madeline and Steve (http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/showgallery.php?mcats=all&si=sabo&what=title&condition=and) here on Steppin' Out
Steve and Madeline begin their work with shapeless blocks of wood of various types both domestic and foreign. Each wood block is allowed to dry slowly for weeks or months before it is chosen to enter their studio. There it is gradually sculpted, shaped, dried, and shaped again as the artists gradually transform it from an ugly piece of raw wood into a beautiful, vase, dish, or bowl.
Naturally because each hand-crafted item they create reflects the shape, attributes and flaws of the portion of a tree from which it was created, no two of these items ever look quite the same. And even though they use the same tool in their creative work, Madeline is quick to point out she and Steve have quite different styles and preferences in the things they create as well. Madeline's hand-turned creations tend to be smaller and lighter. They also look and feel more feminine and fragile than items created by Steve. On the other hand, Steve's products look and feel more massive, are a bit heavier, and tend to end up larger than items crafted by his partner.
To highlight the difference in their styles, Madeline picked up an 8" long and 4" in diameter wooden seed pod which she arranged to have imported in quantity from South America. She places it on a table. Next to it she puts a small but beautiful 5" tall 2" in diameter dark-colored vase, which is just about perfectly sized to hold a single flower. The sides of the beautifully finished vase are pockmarked with small dimples, divots and holes that clearly reflect the large pores that appear in the much larger seedpod. The similarities between the objects are clear. The seedpod is obviously the natural material from which the beautiful finished vase was crafted.
"These vases begin as those pods," she explains. I work them slowly and let them dry between each step as I gradually turn each pod into a vase that looks like this. But Steve tends to enjoy starting with bigger pieces of wood and turning them into big bowls and other similar finished objects." To illustrate Steve's pieces, she points to a collection of large bowls on a table that are in various stages of the transformation process.
"The trick is to not rush the creative process," Madeline continues. "After each turning of the wood, we let it sit and dry for a period of time before we begin the next step in the creative process. The woods they use in their work include both domestic woods and exotic imports from other parts of the world.
"For us, the fun is in the creative process," Madeline concludes. "We both enjoy creating beautiful and functional art from what begins as fairly ugly raw material."
Obviously, these folks know what they're doing and they do it quite well. Although we’ve created a gallery showing of some of their artworks here, their beautiful creations really must be seen (and handled) in person to be fully understood and appreciated. For that reason, if you are in the Nogal area -- just north of Ruidoso -- we highly recommend a visit to their studio. We think you'll be very impressed with what the do.
We certainly were!
Special thanks to Madeline and Steve Sabo for welcoming us into their studio. It was a pleasure to see what they do and to learn a bit about how they do it.
They can be contacted at pcbymad@valornet.com or by phone at 505-354-0201. You can also see more of their work at their web site: www.ArtisticArtFromWood.com (http://www.artisticartfromwood.com/)
Painting, Wood Turning and Crafting
Nogal, NM
By Steppin' Out Staff
One of our most interesting and informative visits in the Art Loop Tour was in the wood crafting studio of Madeline and Steve Sabo of Nogal, New Mexico. The studio behind their home is light and airy and filled with the sights, sounds and odors of wood being gradually turned, shaped and polished with the help of Madeline and Steve's gleaming wood lathe.
Madeline is also a talented painter who paints attractive images using somewhat unusual materials. For example, painting we particularly enjoyed contained a cocker spaniel that had been painted on a piece of black fabric and enclosed in a golden frame that nicely highlighted the colors in the painting. Other examples of her paintings appear in the gallery we've created for Madeline and Steve (http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/showgallery.php?mcats=all&si=sabo&what=title&condition=and) here on Steppin' Out
Steve and Madeline begin their work with shapeless blocks of wood of various types both domestic and foreign. Each wood block is allowed to dry slowly for weeks or months before it is chosen to enter their studio. There it is gradually sculpted, shaped, dried, and shaped again as the artists gradually transform it from an ugly piece of raw wood into a beautiful, vase, dish, or bowl.
Naturally because each hand-crafted item they create reflects the shape, attributes and flaws of the portion of a tree from which it was created, no two of these items ever look quite the same. And even though they use the same tool in their creative work, Madeline is quick to point out she and Steve have quite different styles and preferences in the things they create as well. Madeline's hand-turned creations tend to be smaller and lighter. They also look and feel more feminine and fragile than items created by Steve. On the other hand, Steve's products look and feel more massive, are a bit heavier, and tend to end up larger than items crafted by his partner.
To highlight the difference in their styles, Madeline picked up an 8" long and 4" in diameter wooden seed pod which she arranged to have imported in quantity from South America. She places it on a table. Next to it she puts a small but beautiful 5" tall 2" in diameter dark-colored vase, which is just about perfectly sized to hold a single flower. The sides of the beautifully finished vase are pockmarked with small dimples, divots and holes that clearly reflect the large pores that appear in the much larger seedpod. The similarities between the objects are clear. The seedpod is obviously the natural material from which the beautiful finished vase was crafted.
"These vases begin as those pods," she explains. I work them slowly and let them dry between each step as I gradually turn each pod into a vase that looks like this. But Steve tends to enjoy starting with bigger pieces of wood and turning them into big bowls and other similar finished objects." To illustrate Steve's pieces, she points to a collection of large bowls on a table that are in various stages of the transformation process.
"The trick is to not rush the creative process," Madeline continues. "After each turning of the wood, we let it sit and dry for a period of time before we begin the next step in the creative process. The woods they use in their work include both domestic woods and exotic imports from other parts of the world.
"For us, the fun is in the creative process," Madeline concludes. "We both enjoy creating beautiful and functional art from what begins as fairly ugly raw material."
Obviously, these folks know what they're doing and they do it quite well. Although we’ve created a gallery showing of some of their artworks here, their beautiful creations really must be seen (and handled) in person to be fully understood and appreciated. For that reason, if you are in the Nogal area -- just north of Ruidoso -- we highly recommend a visit to their studio. We think you'll be very impressed with what the do.
We certainly were!
Special thanks to Madeline and Steve Sabo for welcoming us into their studio. It was a pleasure to see what they do and to learn a bit about how they do it.
They can be contacted at pcbymad@valornet.com or by phone at 505-354-0201. You can also see more of their work at their web site: www.ArtisticArtFromWood.com (http://www.artisticartfromwood.com/)