(the following article was published in the Orange County Register in 2009)
Retired Orthopedic Surgeon Makes Art out of Driftwood Putting human bones back together isn’t much different from building things out of driftwood, says Bill Beck of Dana Point. The 81-year-old retired orthopedic surgeon and former chief of staff and board member at South Coast Medical Center, now runs a business out of his home based on his hobby of building furniture.
“You go from bones to wood and there’s not much difference,” he said, “except they don’t bleed, they don’t heal and they don’t complain. … The tools you use are similar – rods, bolts, plates, anything you use to put things together.” He spends between two and four hours a day working with the driftwood, making everything from walking canes to bowls to statues, chairs and tables. ”The problem is, I keep making things and my wife says, ‘Hey, the house is full of them,’” Beck said. So he started a Web site, pacificdriftwoodart.com, where he sells his work. “I’ve got to do something with them,” he said.
The furniture is sent to an interior designer in Lake Tahoe and also to Beck’s nephew in Chicago, who sells it to a resort in Michigan. Beck also gets orders from all over the country and uses a trucking company to ship as many as eight finished pieces at a time, he said.
“It goes well in a lake area, beach area,” he said. “It’s kind of rustic.”
His simplest designs, made up of only one piece of wood, sell for about $800. More complex designs, using anywhere from three to eight or more pieces, cost up to $2,500, Beck said. His most popular designs are cocktail tables because they fit anywhere, he said.
There isn’t much out there like this,” he said, “but I see stuff that’s not as nice that people ask a lot more money for.” Beck gets the driftwood from Monarch Bay Beach in his neighborhood, Salt Creek Beach and San Onofre State Beach. ”When you’re looking for driftwood, just a plain log isn’t that interesting,” he said, “but you’ve got pieces that have shape and contour and the possibility for something artistic.”
Especially in his art pieces, Beck said he tries to use what’s already in the wood rather than carving his own designs. ”You can look at a piece of wood, and I’ll see something, you’ll see something, and other people won’t see anything,” he said. “Some of the things in themselves are beautiful, others you have to add things and make an artful creation … I see things in wood that a lot of people don’t.”
Always active, Beck spends every morning playing tennis, shoots in the 80s in his weekly golf game, scuba dives a few times a year, bikes several miles three times a week and still skis the black diamond slopes at Mammoth Mountain whenever he gets a chance. He and his wife Geri will celebrate their 51st wedding anniversary in September, are active members at South Shores Church in Dana Point and have two children and five grandchildren.
“I don’t have a pain in my body, and that’s unusual for an old person,” he said. “I keep up with all the young guys, beat a lot of them. ”My energy and my level of function at 81 – playing tennis with guys 30 to 50 – that I’m very thankful for.”
Source: http://www.allbusiness.com/environment-natural-resources/ecology-environmental/12871011-1.html#ixzz1Xa0w8sO1