Sep 13, 2010

Hand-crafted masterpiecesBy Ali BronsdonLeaderAdvertiser.com

Polson, MT – When Polson artist Martin Mumma looks at a stump or slab of wood, he doesn’t see the same thing you or I see. He sees the wood as a potential bowl, a dining room table, or a chair. Sometimes, it takes a long time before the true art form comes alive in his mind, and even more time before it is completely transformed.

“When I start out with a piece that I consider to be ‘one of a kind,’ I never know exactly what that thing is going to look like until I get into it,” Mumma said. “The grain, the pattern of the grain, how and where it’s going to present itself on a bowl… the nature of the wood determines what’s going to happen at the end of it.”

Mumma’s unique turned wooden bowls and vessels are on display at the Sandpiper Art Gallery and Gift Shop in Polson as a part of the “Through the Lens and by the Hands” exhibit also featuring local artists, Jay Cross, Eugene Beckes, Donald Stein and Lee Proctor.

Mumma has been making things with his hands since the age of 18 when he built his first wooden masterpiece, a cypress johnboat. With a complete furniture, cabinet and woodworking shop located next to his home at the foot of the Mission Mountains, he now focuses his energy on turning wood on the lathe. Maple, birch, ash and walnut are a few of the more popular types of wood he uses. While trying to use mainly local woods, sometimes salvaged from the dump, Mumma said he occasionally buys exotics from Washington or Oregon.

“I try to stay away from the tropicals because I am more interested in their conservation,” he said.

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