Douglas Merritt

Artist Statement

When quite young, I fabricated a 12’ paddle-board with my dad and was hooked for life on woodworking. At around 10 years old I was carving animal figures, hand sanding them, using shoe polish to add highlights and color.
Thirty years or so later, having graduated from college, marrying, honorably discharged from the armed services, we drove our VW Bus slowly cross-country to California… with our first child on the way. To put food on the table, I took a job as a handy-man carpenter plumber, working for a landlord with 80-90 housing units. Eventually I met some folks with wood shops and one of them asked me to share his shop. After a few years I became a street-artist box-maker in Berkeley, CA.
Fulltime and part-time, for the last 46 years since then, I have been designing and crafting wooden boxes, exploring a wide range of shapes and forms. The boxes are functional sculptures—one of a kind pieces with useful spaces for precious items. Some with drawers and legs stand vertically resembling “Dali-esque” figures, while others with sliding lids and compartments lie flat. At art and craft shows, when our visitors see groupings of them on our display tables they comment on experiencing “relationship” between and with them.
The pieces are band-saw based wooden boxes sanded and detailed to a high finish. Danish oil and a thin wax polish coat is used to enhance the natural coloration, texture, luster, and longevity. Care is taken to select unique and rare pieces of wood that often exhibit striking natural features, such as intricate grain-patterns, knots, and barks. This imbues the final product with unexpected beauty and figure. At times it is worked into a state of high opalescence or chatoyancy. Much of our raw wood is sourced sustainably, being either found or recycled/upcycled. The drawers and compartments are lined with velveteen or patterned cloth, chosen to compliment the wood and add character.
I frequently use old growth redwood, “lace birds-eye” redwood burl, and redwood root burl, all of which are from sustainably recycled sources. Other woods of particular rarity are aged “Mud-burl” and Oregon Myrtle-wood. I enjoy collecting and shaping many local woods including Black Acacia, Eucalyptus, Bay Laurel, old growth Douglas Fir, Olive, Walnut, Cypress, Madrone, Manzanita, and Cherry. A limited selection of the woods are purchased from forested sources: Padauk, Mahogany, and Aromatic Cedar.