| About the Artist Bill Beck hauls a hunk of pacific driftwood up from the white-sandy beach. It’s brown and gnarly—a reddish-hued tree trunk with twisting yellow arms. It joins a mountain of such wood he keeps stored outside his workshop. A month later, a visitor lounges in the Beck living room resting comfortably on an exquisitely crafted, over sized chair, enjoying a view of the pacific. The aforementioned piece of driftwood has become the base of that very chair—two or more other ocean- carved pieces com-posing the seat and back. The chair will soon be on its way to a customer. Beck, a retired orthopedic surgeon turned driftwood-craftsman, designs and constructs a wide array of such “furniture-art” using driftwood he has collected over the last 35 years. A long time resident of Southern California, he has enjoyed the change from working with bones to working with wood. "Wood is definitely easier," he says. "I can work on my schedule and there's no insurance paperwork." He walks over to a curving, sea-carved coffee table and admires the burnt-umber, browns and other earthen tones. “With hundreds of pieces to work with, the challenge is to see the possibilities and potential of each one— fitting the shapes of this unique wood together to create an art form.” In Bill Beck’s mind, that may be a lounge chair, coffee-table or a dining room table base. “But sometimes,” he says, “It may not be furniture at all. Sometimes it’s just an expression of art." |
| Pacific Driftwood Art |
Furniture by William A. Beck
