Celebrating Dataw Artists – Bill Sloan
by Marie Doyon
Where are you from and what do you make?
I was born in Toledo, Ohio. However, our family summered in lower Michigan and wintered in Bradenton, Florida, instilling a love of travel and a strong desire for being “rooted.”
I attended Florida Technological University in Orlando, earned a degree in electrical engineering, and went to work for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center. While in college, I was fortunate to meet (on a blind date) Linda Stevens, whom I married in 1981. We settled in Florida and, in 1983, took on the challenge of building a house together. We only contracted out the concrete foundation, plumbing, and electricity. Over the next 38 years, we completed a major addition along with several rounds of remodeling/renovations. Then, in 2021 and after five years of searching for the perfect retirement home, we found and fell in love with Dataw Island.
What do I make? Large piles of sawdust, primarily! On the practical side, I build many furnishings and accessories for our home: tables, cabinets, benches, and stools. I grew up in a family environment with an expectation and encouragement to “do it yourself.”
On the artistic side, where I would group most of my turned pieces, I look for interesting pieces of wood with unusual grain patterns or defects. I particularly like decayed or gnarly wood. Turning these pieces can be challenging but is often the most rewarding.
What inspires you to create?
I usually start with an idea of what I want the piece to look like, but all too often, the wood tells me what it wants to be. In fact, most of my work starts out as potential firewood, so I don’t worry too much if something does not go as planned. I’ve made a lot of very pretty firewood over the years.
I started turning wood to enhance my furniture pieces and, over time, found it very enjoyable. Turning wood also provided a nice break from my work writing computer software. The process is very organic and dynamic, so I see results quickly. Since moving to Dataw, I have been inspired by its natural beauty and have begun doing more sculptural work.
Something I’m currently working on was inspired by a piece of wood that was on a shelf in my workshop for over a year. It had an attractive shape – too nice for the “burn box.” Every time I picked it up, ideas started forming. Then recently, another piece I had been working on didn’t work, but when I looked at both these pieces together -eureka!!
In all cases, I strive to present the natural beauty of the wood. Most of my work is finished “bright” using a clear lacquer or a penetrating oil finish for food-safe pieces. I also like experimenting with metal or colored accents as embellishments, especially with more sculptural works.
Which artist outside of your chosen medium has had the most impact on your creations? What do they do and in what way do they influence you?
Tough question. Salvador Dali and M.G. Escher are my most influential artists. Not so much that my work reflects their creations, but more for their “off kilter” view of the world around them. The work of Frank Lloyd Wright has also been influential in my furniture creations.
As a member of VAC, what do you like most about us?
The camaraderie and encouragement for everyone’s creativity, as well as the opportunity to share our works with a larger audience. When living in Florida, we had a small group of artistic friends, but there were no venues to present our work to the public. For me, the quarterly VAC exhibits are a wonderful source of inspiration. The themes force me to “think outside the bowl” and push myself artistically and technically.