Publications / Links
Australian Wood Review (contributing author)
Elsewhere
- Brisbane Square Library Public Display (2025)
- Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking interview
- Contemporary wood from an ancient land : three Australian wood artists / Narek Galleries
- 500 Chairs: Celebrating Traditional & Innovative Designs (500 Series): Celebrating Traditional and Innovative Designs
- 500 Wood Bowls: Bold & Original Designs Blending Tradition & Innovation (500 Series)
Artist Profile Robert Howard
Shifting Foundations – The Collected Papers of the Designing Futures Forum (April 2003 p160)
My work explores my interest in carving objects that I find to be aesthetically pleasing. This is a simple objective but also a significant one. It means that I judge my work aesthetically and not, for example, conceptually. It is not deep and meaningful.
Further, my aesthetic sense is primarily visual and so I judge my work on the basis of line and form. A secondary interest is in the tactile quality of my work but it is not always appropriate to explore this with a particular work.
For reason I am yet to discover, my aesthetic sense also demands forms that are fine and simple. I am not averse to decoration (indeed I love the western decorative carving tradition and the highly evolved forms central to it) but for me the decoration, if it exists, must be an integral part of the piece and not merely applied to it.
In all my interests, and in everything that I do, I am always drawn to the fundamentals – in the intellectual matters to the deepest underlying principles and truths, and in practical matters to doing the job once and doing it right. It is probably this aspect of my nature that provides the basis for my aesthetic sense.
It also governs the way I work. I don’t like short cuts and hence have an innate suspicion and dislike of gadgets, jigs and power tools whenever they come to be used as a substitute for skill. I need to work slowly – it suits the way my brain works. I need time to fully consider the possibilities before me, to fully judge the work as it progresses so as to keep up on the best decisions and solutions. Hard experience has taught me that whenever I have tried to short cut the process I have inevitably come to regret it. My work is sculptural in that it is a reductive process and once the wood has been cut away it cannot be put back: I always have to work with what is left. I have thus learned to work defensively – always postponing critical aesthetic decisions for as long as possible and always leaving myself as much room to move, as many options, as possible.
New ideas are stimulated by the chance viewing of a form, or partial form, that I like. This can happen anywhere and at any time. More usually my work progresses through evolution. One work leads to another sometimes. A new work can contain elements of a number of previous works. Interesting, this is not always a conscious progression.
Notable works
Maleny Wood Expo 2018 1st Prize – Till Death Us Do Part
“Marriage, and the families it creates, are considered by many to be the bedrock of western civilisation. Its form has varied across cultures, and is still evolving, but it remains the most fundamental way in which (usually) two people join together to pursue a common purpose. A common symbol of this union is the wedding ring, with one ring, or often two rings, being exchanged during the ceremony.
“Till Death Us Do Part” represents the hope and determination people start out with in their marriage, joined as a family for the rest of their lives.”
Cincinnati Art Museum Collection – Phaedrus (2003)
https://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/explore-the-collection?id=11604529&title=Phaedrus
Figge Art Museum Collection – Untitled (2002)
https://collection.figgeartmuseum.org/objects/5164/untitled-wood-bowl
