Woodturner Dennis Elliott, noted for his large-scale works, has focused for the last few years on burlwood vessels and wall sculptures. The artist favors bigleaf maple burl, and often carves or burns complex patterns into his work.

Born in London, and now a US citizen, Dennis became a professional musician in his teens – in the 1970s, he became the original drummer in the rock group Foreigner. Beginning in 1972, when he was given a lathe attachment for his drill at Christmas, he maintained a woodturning practice while on breaks during years of touring. Inspired by contemporary American woodturners, Dennis taught himself technical skills.  He found a mentor in woodturner David Ellsworth, who worked with him on design process. “I love the freedom that this field grants us, to be allowed so much poetic license,” Dennis states.

In 2000, he began developing his Gemini, Gemini Orbital and Orbital Axis works, created so that each piece can be rotated on its base to give it a different look, involving the viewer in the artistic process.

“I feel a tremendous importance and responsibility each time I begin a new piece,” says the artist. “Pondering a burl that was once a living part of a tree, I treat the cutting of it like a diamond.  Knowing this piece of wood was and can be again a thing of beauty, I’m obliged to the wood, it’s not obliged to me. When I look at the surface of the wood it seems to dictate what form it should be.  The piece I turn could probably outlive me, thus, I know how important what I make might be. In creating music, you’re creating out of thin air.  There’s no material that you’re working with when you begin.  It’s like magic, appearing from thin air.  When you’re working with a solid object like a piece of tree, you can only do it once.  The responsibility is therefore greater than creating a new song which can be wiped out and started again.”

Dennis lives and works in southwest Florida. His work can be found in the collections of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Museum of Arts & Design, New York; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and in numerous other public and private collections.