Behind the scenes with Lanesville artist Rob Roby
The home and workshop of artist, Rob Roby, is situated on forty acres of partially forested land, next to a small sawmill, just outside of Lanesville in Harrison County. This location has distinct advantages for this artist who describes his work as “being all about showcasing the underlying beautyand allure of natural wood.” Fallen trees on his own property can be initially sawed by his neighbor who also supplies Roby with some of the most intriguing logs that come through the mill. About half of Roby’s land is pasture, accommodating 6 horses and well-tended gardens.
“My wife, Lela, takes care of all of this. She competed for 30 years as an Endurance Rider, and still rides for fun and takes care of the horses and gardens. I am happier spending my time in my workshop.”
– Rob Roby
“My wife, Lela, takes care of all of this,” Roby said. “She competed for 30 years as an Endurance Rider, and still rides for fun and takes care of the horses and gardens. I am happier spending my time in my workshop,” Roby said to emphasize his priorities.
Roby built his shop in 1984, even before the couple’s home was built. It is a 30 ’x 40’ structure brimming with the multiple tools needed for the wide variety of projects he takes on. A large table used to create conference sized tale tops takes up about a third of the space. Additionally, the shop is outfitted with lathes for woodturning, saws, planes, drum sanders, a full array of hand tools, finishing powders, liquids, and raw wood.
It is the raw wood that Roby revels in talking about. Pointing to a piece of raw maple, he called attention to tiny holes in the wood made by the ambrosia beetle. “These holes look like tiny pinholes bored through the wood,” Roby said. “The beetles excavate tunnels in dead, stressed, and even healthy trees carrying spores of the ambrosia fungus on their feet. The fungus penetrates the tree’s xylem tissue causing the wood to stain,” Roby explained. The fungus can damage healthy trees, so an infestation can be a headache for property owners. But for Roby, the invasion of beetles results in unique and stunning patterns on Maplewood that he finds beautiful.
He recently completed a dining room table, made of this ambrosia-stained maple, for a local patron. He finished it with a commercial hard wax oil product, so the original wood pattern is quite visible.
He also creates large “Epoxy River Tables,” named because the table appears to have a “river” flowing down its center. He created several of these for a restaurant – Solidago – in Paint Lick, Kentucky. He has also created conference tables and smaller tables with the epoxy finish that resembles a river. Roby explained part of the process: “I add a powdered dye to the epoxy. The pattern of the wood’s grain gives it direction. There are endless combinations of interaction between various wood grains and different dyes. Every experiment is like unwrapping a gift – always a surprise.”
Roby describes the evolution of his art as a slow progression over fifty years of learning by trying different things.
While still a high school student – in Jeffersonville – he began working for his uncle’s pallet making business. “Some pieces of wood were so beautiful, I took them home,” he said. “I would also select pieces of wood from a pile of firewood that I could not bear to burn.” Boxelder was, and still is, one of his favorite woods. “It is very white, but in certain trees, there are big red streaks. One of the prettiest pieces I ever made was a vase out of a piece of boxelder with a big burl in it,” Roby said.
After he graduated from college, he began to make things with the wood pieces he had salvaged. Roby explained: “In 1973, I made a holder for my dad’s inkwell and quill pen, for him to set on his desk This was my first piece – made from one of those salvaged pieces of wood.”
After a few years working in his field of biology at Wolf Research Center in Battle Ground, Indiana, Roby changed directions. He got a job as a Cabinet Installer at Starlight Cabinet Company in southern Indiana, closer to home. By 1977, he had set up his own woodshop where he created pieces for friends and family, including an old-fashioned hand-hewn bed made from barn timbers. After he established his current workshop, he made custom cabinets in his Lanesville shop and worked full time for Louisville Cement. He took his first woodturning class in 2005 and began turning out bowls, platters, urns, vases on his lathe. Many of these pieces are made from another of Roby’s favorite woods: cherry. “Cherry starts out a light pink and darkens over time to a rich reddish hue with a lustrous patina. It also has a mesmerizing kaleidoscope grain pattern,” Roby said to explain why he values the wood.
Roby has been working as a full-time artist since his retirement in 2014. Although he is even more passionate today about his woodworking than he was earlier in his career, his life is not lived entirely tucked away in his studio. He rides horses with his wife, Lela. He plays rhythm guitar with a group that have been together off and on since high school. For the past 10 years, he has been mentoring high school students in the Industrial Arts Club at Corydon Central High School. •
Story by Judy Cato
Photos by Lorraine Hughes (except where noted)
.
silivingmag.com 