About Me
Artist Patrick B. Pointer Artistic Philosophy Relief Carving is much like learning to see, as if for the very first time, the essence that lives in our surroundings, the luminance within everything, and the light that it reflects. An action captured in a moment of time with a mystic movement that travels beyond the stillness.
It is a miraculous visual music that can be heard and felt, a subtle supernatural force that is born of trusting my intuition enough to act upon it. My hope is for the viewer to ‘hear’ it, ‘encounter’ it and ‘live’ it, if for only the moment.
I attempt to isolate the single moment in time that defines the ‘essence’ of an image as simple as possible, in its true state of being, without extra or competing elements. To achieve this, I must be drawn to a story untold, where the eyewitnesses are gone, yet relived in the present from a new vantage point in time and space by the viewer. The life and movement in our natural surroundings seem to parallel the backdrop of mind and spirit, from which I must choose as a conductor of an orchestra, the selectiveness of each movement within the piece as I create in wood, “A Moment In Time.”
Beauty is said to be, “In the eye of the beholder.” It is that spirit, which I desire to captivate. What the eye sees, it paints its own story, from it’s own perspective, drawing the viewer into the piece, to live in this moment as they experience another’s world, another time, and the importance of being. My desire is for the eye to see more than is actually there and for the viewer to take part as they create and tell their own story.
Influenced by the Great Lakes surroundings from Maritime and Historical themes to Wildlife and Nature, I use “Light” as my the main source, carving shadows and highlights into the wood to reveal a true beauty that lies deep within to create a monochromic almost photo-like picture, using perspective and vantage points to create a deeper depth in the wood than is actually there.
Technique
The Relief Carvings are nearly 3 Dimensional using primarily African and Honduras Mahogany, and other exotic woods such as Cherry, Black Walnut, Maple, and Pine, carving with a single light source using authentic chisels, knives, and other carving tools. Other woods are used for birds and waterfowl such as Jelutong, from
Some of my background encompasses working in the automotive industry as a model and pattern maker, prior to becoming a full-time Ordained Minister of the Gospel with the Assemblies 
of God. I now serve as a Senior Pastor of Manistee Assembly of God in
It was a great honor to be requested to create two relief carvings as the Official Artwork for the 50th Anniversary of the Launching of the Edmund Fitzgerald held on June 7, 2008, to commemorate and celebrate all of those who had connections with the designing, engineering, building and the sailing of the “Mighty Fitz.”