TALES FROM THE EBRO RIVER VALLEY

BY ROSIE REAY.

It never ceases to amaze me when I find a local, quietly spoken person who has such hidden depths in artistic skills literally living on my doorstep in the Lower Ebro Valley. An English gent that hails originally from Kent and then from Suffolk. Spent two interesting years, savouring the life as an Expat in France (carving all the time, mind you) before continuing on down south into Catalonia to settle but one cami away from me in el camp Jesús.

John Yeates portrays the English reserve when talking about his personal woodcraft and is very humble to his artistic attributes .

This work is of a very, very high standard.

It may have been his hobby for many years, but now it expands his life, as no two pieces are the same – similar, but not identical. This is fascinating stuff when you compare two finished products and hear they both came from the same tree and were treated the same, but look so different.

When you chat to John you can feel empathy as he describes the process from raw tree or root, to adrenalin rushing artistic flair as he carves away and the wood depicting the characteristics (especially in the figurines!)

He smiling tells you he is only “enhancing what nature has given him.”

Oh, yes! John definitely does do that to perfection.

The trees do not land in John’s lap! He has to scour the area. Locate the owner and then negotiate a deal on the price of the timber. He is someone who can take a fallen tree and haul the beastie back to his finca. If it is the proverbial Papa of beasts then he must haul his mobile state of the arts (and very frighteningly looking contraption) heavy duty saw and frame to the scene. Slice it into long, durable strips (planks) but retaining the beautiful bark edges.

Even then, these enormously long pieces of wood need to be winched on to the back of his truck, before heading home to stack them and air dry them until he is ready for his next masterpiece.

I asked what he did with the off cuts, apart from the obvious in recycling them for his wood burning in-house stove/ fire, as frugality is something we all learn very quickly as an Expat.

Well, he makes some wooden bangles and bowls and plates. But he carves the most interesting salad servers and spoons too. A must for every household where in summer, and other season too, salad is the order of the day.

What a talking point to have individually designed salad servers beautifully carved out of local wood! Sometimes the olive wood will have a natural hole in it. It is not a mistake.

It is the wood determining the usage, instead of the other way around. These are ideal for serving olives or pickled vegetables or pickled eggs. The handles are fascinating in themselves. These will keep the young and old amused ,between courses at deciphering the image or characters it depicts-or does it look like someone sat at the table?

These are not imported. They are made locally in el camp Jesús, near Tortosa a few minutes drive off the route C12 turnoff passed Clibegas, when leaving the apocalypse of Tortosa travelling towards Aldover-Xerta-Benifallet. John Yeates( you may have seen him at the Olive oil festival in Jesús, or such trade shows with his carved benches of animals heads or such like. You will also find him at the larger Carboot sales or contact me for his details.

All of his works are very exquisite and delightful and highly polished pieces of work, what was once just a fallen old tree- maybe due to storm damage, becomes a treasured possession for you. I think the prices are very fair to the high standard of workmanship. An article that would take pride of place in anyone’s home and would definitely be commented on by all who see them.

Olive wood is highly regarded for furniture, treen, bowls and utensils. John specializes in hand carved wood furniture, including chairs, benches.

Likewise, you could have a very polished formal dining room table made to suit your decor. On the other hand you could have one or two tables in pine crafted that could be topped and tailed on a patio for outside dining, fiestas and when the clan and loved ones arrives for their summer holidays.

Long benches or short benches can be tailored to suit. If Him and Her want the regal end of table hierarchy chairs can be crafted with wide seats and high backs and sturdy arm rests.

John can even take it further to carve the designated royalty name in the back of the chair. The table corners are not straight but curved or in a clover leaf- so no bruises to be had when bumping in to it.

Then there is what I call John’s “Olive Art” . Fine carvings to bring out the quality of your interior design all gently nurtured out of olive roots and charming marble yes, to produce a sensitive creature.

But then you would need to place it on one of John’s olive wood carving unique coffee table to bring out it’s rare beauty. Here again the beauty of his craft is there own special uniqueness.

No 2 pieces of wood are identical- so you and your neighbour could each have a coffee table and both will look entirely different but each so special – such a beauty to the eye of the beholder.

There is more! Wall plagues – shows an opening masia huge wooden doors and behind is where either a mirror or painted glass with a light set behind it to create an evening ambience. I can just visualize the scene on a cold evening with logs burning. Perfect!

There are only one pair of English oak benches carved while languishing in France, with wild boar and Spanish Ibec as the seat backs.. These look beautifully indoors or outdoors and can always double for extra seating . These need to be personally viewed to be appreciated and must be sold as a pair.

Nowadays, John carves smaller benches out of local wood as this wild boar illustrates and makes a lovely feature for a quiet corner of your garden, terrace or patio.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for more details.

Twitter @RosieReay

RosieReay@FodenPress.com

+34 619 772 492

Short URL: http://www.chroniccat.com/?p=453

Posted by editor on 2010-06-29 Filed under General, Interviews, July 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry