Artist’s Statement:
“Kia Ora, Hello, Goeie dag et Bonjour,
My name is Guy (Gideon) du Toit and it’s my pleasure to welcome you to my woodturning site.
From the first moment that I put a gouge to wood I understood that the wood was taking me on a journey. Something in me came alive and I discovered a new passion. I originally joined the Hamilton Woodturners Club and then I found out about Ecole Escoulen in France. I pursued this new passion of creating wood art and applied to study at Ecole Escoulen in France, the premier wood turning and wood art school in the world.
I was very honored and fortunate to be accepted and graduated in 2019 after being taught and inspired by some of the best wood artists in the world.
You can view more information about the school and some of my teachers by clicking on this link. I was especially inspired by the teaching and works of Alain Mailland.
Today I live in Kerikeri in New Zealand and am very fortunate that another great inspiration to me, Rolly Munro, lives 5 minutes away. Rolly and his equally talented wife, Leigh are good friends and mentors to me.
I also sell Rolly’s range of woodturning tools like the Munro Hollowing tools and the Wundercutt10 on my woodturning site (Journey Woodturning). You can browse the Rolly Munro woodturning tools here.
Like all crafts, wood art and wood turning is a continuous journey of learning and discovery. I still have a lot to learn and am loving the journey! The artistic creation undergoes a miraculous journey itself:
- Beginning as a seed,
- That grows to become a tree,
- That becomes precious timber,
- That is crafted,
- Through the alchemy of wood turning, carving, pyrography, sandblasting, airbrushing, texturing, staining, painting and more…
The hidden artworks inside.
My logo represents my path to the craft I love and honors the cycles of life and our connection with nature. It is a journey for the seed that grows to become a tree and then to become an object of wood turned art.
The central piece of the insignia is the silhouette of an Acacia tree, specifically a Camelthorn tree. For me, the Acacia tree is the tree of Africa. This is the tree of my youth in the bush of South Africa. Without a tree, there can be no wood turning or wood art, no paper no paintings, no photographs.
The mountains represent all the mountains one climbs in your journey through life, all the obstacles you overcome, and also the peaks you aim for. They also remind me of the majestic mountains I grew to love when I lived in France.
The road is the journey with no destination but only an aim. The arrows represent the spinning of the lathe and the cyclic nature of life.
Join me on this journey.”
Guy du Toit