I’ve been making headway on setting up the new workshop, except when it comes to the books — so many books. The plan is to build some wall shelves to hold them (but some may have to go), so I’ve been building my workbench so that I can build the shelves. The bench is almost done, and I’ll share more about that soon. Meanwhile, I’ll mention a couple books that I revisited while packing up.

Freeing Art From Wood: The Sculpture of Leslie Garland Bolling was published by the Library of Virginia in 2006 to accompany an exhibition of Bolling’s work. The book was written by Barbara C. Batson. She also curated the exhibition and, from what I can gather, is largely responsible for the rediscovery of Bolling’s genius.

I must have purchased this back when it came out. If you can find a copy, it’s well worth picking up. It’s beautifully produced with clear photos of many of Bolling’s wood sculptures, mainly produced in the 1930s and into the ’40s. It also includes a biography of Bolling’s life in Richmond as well as a description of his working methods.

Bolling’s tools consisted of a vise, a scroll saw, and a bunch of pocket knives. There is a film record of Bolling carving; it can be viewed at this link. The first seven minutes or so of the video is about Bolling. You can see his knives and how he uses them in a slicing, twisting motion.

He carved his pieces from “poplar,” which I assumed is what is commonly called “tulip poplar” (Liriodendron tulipifera), but a comment in the book makes me wonder about that. Batson writes “In producing his sculptures Bolling preferred female poplar because of its softness.” Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), a true poplar, does have male and female trees, but tulip trees are typically monoecious, having bisexual flowers. Whatever he was using, he made magic from it.

The book also includes lots of interesting references. In a letter to Carl Van Vechten who purchased Bolling’s carving called “The Boxer” in 1933, Bolling wrote “I can do the carving but setting the price is the thing that gets me.” Van Vechten paid $50 for the piece. According to the Consumer Price Index calculator, that would be $1160 today. Still a bargain.

This other book, hadn’t seen the light of day for decades. It was a school record book given to parents to keep report cards and other mementos. That’s my mom’s writing on the cover. I was named after my dad, and they went with “II” because they didn’t want me to be called “Junior.” The strategy worked; of all the names I was ever called at school, “Junior” wasn’t one of them.

For some time perspective, I entered kindergarten in the fall of 1976, and this next page shows how times have changed.

Who knows, I could have been a model, but it was on the girls side. Then again, so was school teacher. And there wasn’t much call for cowboys in Pennsylvania. Gender role prescriptions aside, I certainly can’t blame my mother for the misspelling of “gym.” That’s my writing.