Revealing the story and soul of wood
- The first wooden object Joey made was an oak stool
- She won a woodturning competition despite cutting her finger in an accident
- One of Joey’s studios is a treehouse
Joey Richardson’s bucket list, following a big accident and hospitalisation in her early 20s, included creating items out of wood, so she enrolled in a woodworking evening class. Growing up on a small farm in the middle of beautiful woodland, her love for fauna and flora developed. A bursary award from the Worshipful Company of Turners of London allowed Joey to study with the late master Binh Pho, followed by a scholarship from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust and a master’s degree in fine arts. These rich experiences, among many others, shaped her unique style, which comes from combining traditional woodworking skills with innovative techniques such as piercing, texturing, airbrushing and carving, and occasionally using mixed media to produce new and exciting concepts.
INTERVIEW
I am an artist/sculptor/woodturner who incorporates traditional craft skills with a theoretical depth, investigating the symbiotic relationships that humans have with trees and nature. Wood is warm, tactile, natural, and has a history and a story of its own.
Nearly all of my sculptural wood objects are created out of reclaimed sycamore from Twigmoor and Scawby Estates where I grew up. Using both my craft skills and the material, I create work that has strong links to the history of the place and the origin of material.
My current studio consists of several small studios. The most exciting is a fabulous treehouse which looks out over open fields. I then have three separate small studios: one for turning, one for carving and piercing and one for airbrushing, colouring and gilding.
All my pieces contain butterflies, which represent my children. We have had many struggles. The butterflies portray their freedom and strength, which help them to embrace the future, making us all stronger and more beautiful.
