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Finial Box | Gorst DuPlessis, Louisiana

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:NA
Finial Box | Gorst DuPlessis, Louisiana
Tropical hardwood burl, African blackwood | 10.75 x 4.5 x 4.5 in/27.3 x 11.43 x 11.43 cm
Donated by Andrea DuPlessis

"“The only constant in my work is change, and relying on my intuition from previous experience and exposure. I am a student of the history of turning. I turn every day as it is the relaxation that I get in my contrast to my ‘Day Job’, The Practice of Medicine. I love what I do - and what is do is the fruit of my passion.” - Gorst DuPlessis (1938-2015)

In preparing this auction listing, we reached out to his wife Andrea for a quote. Along with the words above, she wrote this. It describes this great friend of woodturning and the AAW better than we could ever hope to:

"I wish I knew the words to adequately express all the love, interest, enjoyment and energy that Gorst put into his turned pieces. He eventually came to live through his art, which became a special source of life for him, intensifying with each year, especially after retiring from 43 years of medical practice. We had always thought it would be very difficult for him to retire from medicine…but I think it was actually a door that once open, his interest in woodturning and all fields related did provide a richer life than he expected. Gorst always was a man of unlimited interests….you cannot imagine the subjects covered by his books that remain here….and the items that were collected along his lifetime’s journey.

I always had the feeling that many wives of woodturners felt more kindly toward their own husbands after visiting our house and seeing Gorst’s myriad machines, tools, piles of different types of woods, books, and incredible collection of work that he owned after trading for his own pieces over the years. I do hope those of his friends who attend the AAW will enjoy sharing their personal “Gorst Stories” and memories of time they spent with him."