Basket Illusion woodturning at Wenaha Gallery

The new Art Event at Wenaha Gallery features the woodturning art of Louis Toweill, an artist from Yakima. Toweill makes hardwood bowls in sycamore, maple, walnut, and other fine hardwoods. He began woodturning seriously in 2000 and creates bowls, platters, vases, pens, and other items. This show includes some of his most recent work in 'basket illusion' woodturning.

These are wood-turned bowls that, while on the lathe, are grooved with horizontal grooves that wrap around the piece. After taking the bowl off the lathe, Toweill adds the perpendicular lines, evenly spaced across, to give the appearance of a woven basket. Toweill completes the illusion by painting the individual cells with a pattern that he has pre-designed on a software spreadsheet.

"You have to know exactly how many cells surround the circumference of the piece (usually it's 96), and then once you start painting, you have to be awful careful about counting - if you miss by one cell, you mess up everything,"

The artist said that adding paint to the process is time-consuming and demands intense concentration and care. The result is worth it, and the visual fusion of wood with weaving is pleasing and captivating.

Toweill's Art Event features a selection of his illusion pieces with more traditional woodturned work. Toweill is a member of the Mid-Columbia Woodturners. He has twice been invited to show his work at the American Association of Woodturners national symposiums. Most recently, he received an award for one of his illusion pieces at the 65th Annual Central Washington Artists' Juried Exhibit at the Larson Gallery in Yakima.

The Wenaha Gallery, located at 219 E. Main Street, is open from 9-5, Monday through Friday.