Joel Hunnicutt is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a degree in business management. After working in the world of retail as an apparel buyer, merchandise manager and store manager for a Southern department store, he purchased a small insurance agency in order to spend more time with family. During this time, he took a woodworking course at a community college. Joel fell in love with the lathe work and soon transitioned from a part time hobbyist to a full time wood worker. He is mostly self taught apart from that one course. Through time, trial and error, he came to rely on the method of segmented wood turning as an outlet for his creativity and vision. Joel currently lives in Hendersonville, NC and enjoys bike riding, flyfishing and spending time with his grandsons. "Approximately twenty years ago I signed up for a furniture making class at a community college. The idea was to learn how to make furniture for my home. As soon as I turned the pedestal for the table I was creating, I was hooked. Not on furniture making, but on using the lathe. I instinctively knew what to do. It felt right." "Over the years, I realized that I wanted to take my love of wood, give it the luminosity of glass while using the forms of ancient pottery. This led me to segmented wood turning. I cut many small segments of wood, assemble the pieces into a rough form and then turn it to the final shape. Through an additive process, I reinterpret the ancient and classical forms and couple these forms with 21st century surface treatments. These forms are made new again with vibrant colors not normally associated with wood." "I love the solitude of my work; it is what often feeds my creativity. My work is displayed in public and private collections throughout the United States, China, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Syria, Canada, Switzerland, Turkey and the Maldives." ~ Joel Hunnicutt