Sharon Doughtie

Sharon Doughtie has had a lifelong affinity for wood. She created a wood box when she was eight years of age, carving a garland of leaves around the perimeter of the top. She worked as a cabinet making apprentice at eighteen, assisting in the creation of a wide range of items, including dining table sets to plant stands to kitchen cabinets. It was fun but not a passion. She became a woodturner in 1993 and quickly realized this was the woodwork that she most preferred. She became a full-time turner in 1998, having had the good fortune of observing and learning from many fine wood artists.

"My current work incorporates designs based on freeform Celtic knots and explores how the curving, undulating patterns can cross cultures, look like something from nature or illustrate an emotion. I wanted to explore something from my own Scottish Irish culture and to take knotwork in a new direction; so rather than drawing, then burning, the knot around the rim of a platter, I allow my designs to drift across the pieces and flow over the edges. I use simple bowl shapes, which have been dyed and textured, as back drops on which to weave the designs."