Bowled Over

Considered to be one of the fathers of contemporary wood turning in America, woodworker Rude Osolnik is something of a folk hero.

Working in Kentucky, he creates robust forms from a variety of woods. Osolnik is noted for his ability to use figures in the wood he laminates, creating a signature look that emerges only as the work is turned.

This bowl is featured in our online exhibition The Renwick at 25, where you can view this beautiful object three-dimensionally. With the plug-in application QuickTime™, you can turn the bowl with your computer cursor.

Source: Kenneth Trapp. The Renwick at Twenty-Five (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, 1997) at http://americanart.si.edu/collections/renwick25/index.html.

Pictured: Rude Osolnik, born 1915, Laminated Birchwood Bowl, about 1975, laminated Baltic birch plywood, 7 x 10 15/16 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase.