Justin Wolford fenrircreations.com Justin is at Studio #5 during the 2024 POST tour.
Making topographic art at Fenrir Creations, I can combine my artistic and technical passions and skills, particularly with my wood and resin pieces depicting topography through contour lines and bodies of water. Buying a home here in beautiful Philomath, Oregon is what allowed me the space to pursue my artistic endeavors.
I acquired my technical skills through teaching computer science for several years at OSU and grew my artistics skills through a pursuit of photography in my college and high school days, when a dark room was still an essential part of the process.
To make wood and resin art that is also an accurate map, I take the USGS data for the landforms and water bodies then translate them into instructions that the laser cutter can follow to create the overall shapes. Then, after adding a backing, I pour resin that I've pigmented to fit the piece in such a way as to capture the motion or depth of this particular water body. Final preparations lead to a place-based, beautiful piece that can hang on the wall.
Because of the nature of the process, I can also customize pieces to capture what is most important to the client. Place is such an important part of life and identity, and using these tools to recognize and honor it in art is a real joy. The mix of familiar landmarks and abstracted complexity allows for many connections and new recognition.