Michael Stephenson removes wood until only the simple beauty of the bird form remains. Made of the most beautiful woods he can find on the earth, they each unique in wood and shape. Each piece can be removed from the stand so you can connect to the wood by holding bird in hand and enjoying the grain. This wood sculpture is composed of a Thuya burl body and Cocobolo Tail with a Bodock base.

Thuya wood is an exotic wood named by the Greeks meaning sacrifice. It was highly praised by Romans and Greeks, and its oils were used in religious rites and ceremonies.

Thuya trees are a rare species, exclusively native to Morocco, growing solely in the Atlas mountain region in Northern Africa, with small exceptions in Malta and southern Spain. The praised part of the tree is not the trunk but the burl buried in the ground. With a deeper color, concentrated aroma, and intricate grain.

Today these burls are very scarce and hard to locate, extract, and transport. High demand has diminished Thuya forests and looking for these underground burls is like sifting for gold. The burls are bid on by artisans and sold to the highest bidder, then moved from the mountains on mules and donkeys. The beauty of the wood shines from the skill found in the hands of the wood artist and is beloved by craftsmen.

Only the heartwood of the Central American Colobolo is used and is known for its reddish-brown beauty. The darker irregular traces weave through the wood.

Bodock wood is a hard, heavy and dense wood that makes a great sculpture base. It is also known as bodark, horse-apple or bois d’arc.