JOHN BEADLE INTERVIEW — Interlocutor

Nassau-based artist and sculptor John Beadle currently has a solo exhibition of new work, Splinters and Shards, now up up through January 22, 2022 at Nassau’s TERN Gallery.

In this new body of work, Beadle combines natural and manufactured materials to create pieces that reference and warp their original forms. Beadle, who trained as a painter and printmaker, applies a similar attitude toward materiality in these sculptures. These new works are examples of Beadle’s ability to merge painting, sculpture and installation, creating a rich sense of line, dimension and texture.

Beadle’s carbonized mahogany carvings fuse a variety of natural wood textures into single compositions. In his circular wall sculptures, round indentations, thinly etched lines and curving hollows mimic the various textures found naturally in wood, allowing these different patterns to blend into one another.

These natural patterns are echoed in the grain of the wood itself, which remains a prominent feature of these pieces despite the carbonization of the wood. The artist contrasts his circular carvings with two freestanding, upright wooden sculptures. The natural shape of the tree is referenced in these rectangular pieces, continuing the motifs of naturalistic linework and engravings. Beadle sees all of his wood carvings as a kind of drawing — except that instead of adding onto the existing material, these carvings require him to subtract from it, as one would do to a wood block for printmaking.

A select group of Beadle’s circular wall sculptures also incorporate metal, creating variance between organic and manmade resources and processes. Works like “Eden” place delicately carved and textured wood against brushed metal. These juxtapositions — between natural and manmade, textured and smooth, altered and untouched — are at the core of the artist’s practice.

Interview by Interlocutor Magazine

Could you talk a bit about your beginning as an artist? At this stage in your career, your work is very multidisciplinary, but what were some of the first types of art making you created? In what ways do you think your early work fundamentally influenced the direction your creative focus has taken over the years?

My beginning as an artist was all about making paintings and drawings, and most of all learning to see. I was fortunate enough to have had instructors who pushed me to make work with an attitude of personal reflection and utterances.

The work was primarily about technique and materials, I was painting on wood, cardboard, sized paper, metal and fabric...canvas. I had the need to make the paint behave as paste at times, liquid at others. The work was figurative with the narrative being social commentary, for the most part. After a while, other materials were introduced to my surfaces, rather than creating the illusion of a particular texture or patina, I found those and added them to the work. The works became assemblages with painted and/or drawn sections with found scraps of burnt or painted wood, hammered metal, wire mesh/chicken wire...I wanted the work to reflect something of my material surrounding, in an unpolished, gritty way. Because I was working with physical stuff, I started to make more sculptural objects that forced me to be more cognizant of the space the work stood in, and how space informed the work. I eventually started creating installations and larger sculptural objects.

I understand now that my manner of working is cyclical. Consequently, I make allowances for it in the ways I make sketches and notes. I create bodies of works knowing I will not exhaust the thinking in the first round of a particular exercise. I would take the thinking as far as I am able to in the first instance, meanwhile making sketches of the ideas I deemed too divergent of the body being created. The sketches can take the form of actual pieces. This manner of working has now become integral to my practice. The return is usually with a new set of skills, material knowledge and insight, allowing me to extend the thinking that much further.

I am constantly considering the phrase “everything is everything” in the thinking and making processes.

“Eden”, 2021 - Carbonized Tamarind and Metal - 27 x 2 inches

You also have a background in the traditional arts of Junkanoo (a cultural music and dance celebration unique to The Bahamas), and you’ve served as a principal designer and sculptor in the One Family Junkanoo group. How did you originally become so closely involved in Junkanoo, and have there been any unexpected or surprising ways that the tradition has impacted your overall artistic practice?

I’ve been participating in the traditional Junkanoo festival for more than thirty years. My getting started was by invitation. At the time of my becoming involved, most participants were born into it or invited in. A friend told me there was a difference between fine art and Junkanoo in as much as line drawing and sculptures. I said, “no there wasn’t!” He invited me to come and prove it, I went to prove my point and fell in love. I had a deep passion for the design and construction processes, additionally, I was very interested in the possibilities offered by festival costume design and construction technology.

The most impactful influence on my artistic practice has been how I view objects in relation to movement and space. What’s important to consider in the engineering of the frame of a sculpture for dance movement or transport. My participation in the construction of large Junkanoo pieces has given me the experience of creating large scale projects which I have carried over well into my fine art practice. I have incorporated a few of the materials and manner of use typical of Junkanoo in to my studio practice as well.

“Fruit & Texture”, 2021 - Carbonized Mahogany - 27 x 2 inches

What was your initial creative inspiration for your current series of works which comprise your solo show Splinters and Shards now up at TERN Gallery? Have you created carbonized mahogany carvings before or is this a relatively new sculptural approach for you?

This work in this exhibition is the result of the residual creative energy I had following the completion of a large scale project. Initially, the pieces were being produced to consider compositions, line and texture variations and overall surface undulations for possible future works. Essentially I was making different kinds of marks with the tools to consider how they would look together. Not wanting this effort to feel like something to be discarded, I made the “sketches” more formal and finished by deciding on a round format to continue the additional sketches on.

The carbonized wood to this extent is a new sculptural approach for me...yes. For this work, fire became a tool for coloring and altering the surface texture of the pieces. The burning process made the more dense portions stand out after the wire brushing process. At first, charring was done to the entire surface, after a while I started selecting areas I wanted to be blackened.

Earlier on in my practice, I made assemblages using found, weathered and burnt wood, at another point I used charring to add visual interest to a group of hanging machetes and I have used fire to color metal from time to time. This body of work and the related works is where I have used this approach most extensively.

“Side to Side...or Sway”, 2021 - Carbonized mahogany - 52.5 x 2 inches

TERN Gallery states that “Beadle sees all of his wood carvings as a kind of drawing — except that instead of adding onto the existing material, these carvings require him to subtract from it, as one would do to a woodblock for printmaking.” When you work in this way, do you already have a conceptual sense of the shapes and forms that are waiting to be “subtracted” from the material, or is it more of a random/natural process of discovery as you commence creating the work?

Working this way, I generally have some idea of the tension I am trying to create with the marks, gouges and indentations. There are times when a design starts as a drawing on paper, this initial design inevitably changes as soon as it is transferred onto the wood’s surface.

After the first stage of surface contouring, the design undergoes additional changes in response to the new condition. Next, we consider line density, elements spacing with the tool’s cutting head dimensions in mind. The design is galvanized once cutting begins. In truth, depending on the cut depth, no cut mark is set. Marks and texture become progressively set as we get further along into the cutting, gouging and texturing process. At times the wood grain, knot or other special feature in the material forces us to more aggressively alter designs.

“Artifact II”, 2020 - Carbonized mahogany and metal - 52.25 x 11.875 x 2 inches

“Well Rooted”, 2020 - Carbonized mahogany and metal - 69.5 x 7 x 2 inches

“Ambers and Embers”, 2021 - Mahogany and metal - 52.25 x 10 inches

Splinters and Shards also feature metal sculptures based on the designs on common iron gates, fashioned into humanoid shapes. What appeals to you about the contrast between the iron and wood?

Interestingly enough, I find the notion of the contrasting qualities of iron and wood most interesting. The notion that one is cold and the other is warm, the notion of hard verses soft...both of these are true and not true depending on the species of wood and the treatment of the iron. It’s the idea that these two materials rest somewhat at opposite ends of a spectrum that I am interested in considering and working with.

Using a metal rod, can a line be created with the kind of animation, twists and switchbacks as found in a length of vine or root wood?