06/14/2026
ARTIST ALERT!🚨
Artist John Lipe joins us for the second year in a row! John creates the most magical pieces from wood. Each of his pieces begins with a tree in the forests of Southern Illinois. This tree is harvested by a small, local sawyer who mills it into lumber. John then takes that wood into his shop, and out comes a beautiful, functional piece for your use and enjoyment.
You may see that many of his works are made from what he calls “interesting wood,” or what others might call flawed wood, or even reject outright. Such wood may have voids from weather, insects, or age, or have knots, discolorations, or other imperfections. John finds such wood to be beautiful, and prefers working with it to straight-grained, “perfect” wood.
Often, he fills these voids with epoxy resin. His work has been compared to Kintsugi, the Japanese practice of repairing the cracks in broken pottery with precious metals.
Some may wonder why John prefers these kinds of wood. Quite simply, he finds that the same thing is true of wood as is true of people; that which is beautiful is seldom perfect, and that which is perfect…is seldom beautiful.
Visit John's booth & experience the beauty for yourself!
