Fine Art by Christopher Setlock

I’ve worked in wood for many years, making picture frames, furniture, cabinetry, etc. In 2006, my family and I bought a house in the middle of 50 heavily wooded acres. While living there, I had this idea that I wanted to take a cherry log, stand it on end and carve it into a twisting ribbon, then gild one of the edges.

Being a father of three young children, there was never time to do something so ambitious. Then we moved away, and there were no big cherry logs at hand. Still, the idea continued to nag at me.

Over the years I discovered an interest in “green” woodworking, which is working freshly cut wood. This technique lends it self well to simple crafts such as spoon and bowl carving.

Fast forward to 2018. I had a few pieces of white oak from a downed tree on CMU campus. Even green it was unpleasantly hard to carve into spoons. There was a small log around 30″ long. It occurred to me to try my old idea of the wood ribbon. That idea became “Cobra”, the first of the pieces here.

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I worked as a picture framer for many years. I loved it, though the money is a bit sparse. Eventually I taught myself to make traditional, hand carved and gilded frames. I spun this off into a small business of my own starting in 2005. At first, I only sold them through The Framesmith in the Squirrel Hill Section of Pittsburgh.

In 2008 my family and I moved to Ithaca NY. I began selling to some galleries and frameshops there, and also to some private collectors. Unfortunately, the economy tanked in 2008, and little by little, the market for carved and gilded frames tanked too, as the price of gold leaf skyrocketed. By 2010, my business was mostly mothballed and I moved on to more recession-proof occupations.

I’ve developed an interest in green woodworking. Especially in spoon carving. I don’t especially care about spoons in particular; it’s just a form to explore. Working with green wood is interesting, though. There is so much left to chance in green wood. It’s soft, so it’s easier to carve, and it’s a simple, meditative joy. It’s also more likely to spoil after the fact. After all the work, it still has to dry, and it just might crack when it does. There is a lesson there, a bit of Zen.

These are the prints and paintings from my senior year of college, through my mid-20’s. There is a lot here. I was very prolific in this period of my life. I was also struggling with some very difficult things. My alcohol and drug use was spiraling out of control. I was searching for meaning, and understanding, and I was tearing at the spiritual identity I’d grown up with.

Some of these paintings are very coarse, even ugly. Some may give offense. I don’t intend to explain all the imagery and meanings, but if you see something troubling, especially those that seem misogynistic, consider that many of these paintings are asking questions, not making statements.