David Ellsworth
American sculptor, born 1944
Calypso Pot
1999
Black oak burl
9 x 8 x 8 inches (22.86 x 20.32 x 20.32 centimeters)
Purchase: The Reverend and Mrs. Van S. Merle-Smith, Jr. Endowment Fund, on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the founding of SOTA, 1999.
1999.019.000

After studying sculpture, drawing, and design at the University of Colorado in the early 1970s, David Ellsworth concentrated on sculpting turned wooden vessels. Using a lathe and turning tools of his own design, he hollows out pieces of wood through small openings in their tops. In Calypso Pot the hollowness of the form is immediately apparent through the natural cavities in the burled oak.