Alexander weygers woodblock carvings on stone

His environment house, studio, and workshops were all entirely created by himself and his loving wife Marian from recycled materials long before such concepts were part of the common knowledge of today. In fact Alex was a man who was ahead of his time like so many other visionaries throughout history. He was born and raised in Java, Indonesia in His father ran a sugar plantation and a small hotel and his mother was a school teacher with a talent for languages and literature.

Alex 's father instilled in him an enduring love and fascination for nature as he took him on many excursions through the tropical jungles and mountains of exotic Java. Also his father's long interest in tropical plants I believe influenced Alex in his later years to develop a passion for close-up photography of flowers and plants. Ultimately all of this early experience with nature strongly influenced Alex's keen interest in ecology that he expoused and lived by both in his books and his life.

Alexander weygers woodblock carvings on stone

Alex 's life seemed to be shaped by fortunate and unfortunate circumstances. His childhood was nurturing and idyllic and helped to instill in him a positive and inspirational disposition. At the age of 15 he was sent to Holland for a European education and graduated from the Groningen Politechnicum in mechanical engineering and from the University of Dordrecht in shipbuilding.

However after he had finished his schooling, married, and immigrated to America to work as an engineer in Seattle, he was dealt a tragic blow. He lost both his Dutch wife and child in childbirth. After this tragic event at the age of 30 he decided that he would become an artist and thus change the direction of his life. He became apprenticed to Lorado Taft, of the Chicago Art Institute, in the early 30's to persue his long time fascination with sculpture.

After his tenure with Taft,where he studied clay modeling and worked on monumental commission sculptures, he decided to complete his studies in Europe. While in Europe he first studied anatomy and figure drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts in the Hague of Holland and after a year he felt that he had gained complete knowledge of the human figure.

He next went to Paris to study end-grain wood engraving under the direction of ;;the famous french engraver Paul Bornet. Even at that time in the early 30's wood engraving was becoming a lost art. Dutch-American artist — Mojokerto , Indonesia. Biography [ edit ]. Artistic career [ edit ]. Discopter [ edit ]. Published works [ edit ].

Philosophy [ edit ]. Weygers Foundation [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Retrieved 1 February Retrieved February 1, Lloyd Owen Printer. Google Patents. Archived from the original on Retrieved Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 6 February External links [ edit ]. Carmel Valley, California. Authority control databases. An excellent book is Alexander Weygers Making Tools He found himself in the South Pacific with lots of interesting wood and no tools to carve with so he made his own and this book details what it requires.

Posted April 27, I agree Weygars is a good one, but you also might try this: Petrovitch, Joe. I couldn't find these in the last post, but here are a couple other toolmaking suggestions: Larsen, Ray. Janel Posted April 27, Thanks for posting the books about tools. RE: "any images of your work you could share. No pictures of tools or step-by-step instructions.

Janel Posted April 28, Posted April 28, Guest DFogg Posted April 28, The perennial student - Don www. Very interesting! We are always able to learn. You can buy small quantities online from folks like Pacific Machine and Tool I recommend a medium to high carbon steel for wood working tools. Posted May 7, Learn about stainless steel,water hardning or oil hardings the color of the metal at each degree of heat and how to bend and mold steel into a beautiful tool..

Posted June 7, Hey Merlin, I get your point. Ralph I see Pacific tool site. He is also blacksmith, machinist, carpenter, electrician, plumber, toolmaker and beekeeper. He is further a teacher and a reluctant prophet upon whom the admiring descend. Sculpture, Form, and Philosophy is an extraordinary treat, a glimpse into the mind and technique of a true artistic genius.