When you think of the arts, you often think of illustration, painting, graphic design, and sculpture. But one form of art that seems to be forgotten is the art of woodwork. I don’t just mean carving sculptures out of wood, but also making intricate furniture by hand.

One young man whom I am very familiar with expresses himself through the activity of woodworking. The featured image today is actually of the advent ladders and stars that he makes every year for the holidays. However, he wants to do so much more with his woodworking.

His name is Christopher Morgan and he is a young man from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He spent the latter half of his High School career building sets for the school’s theater department, and that’s where his love of woodworking began. He built intricate sets-such as a house that had two floor and was fully functional for stage use, and sets that were of more simply designed like the one pictured here.

As he went off to college, his desire and capability to woodworking grew, and Chris decided that he wanted to develop his skill to the point the he could use it to make beautiful pieces of woodworking art. When I asked him what intrigued him so much about woodworking, this was his response:

“Real woodworking is a dying craft, and I’d like to have the opportunity to do real woodworking, like carving furniture and even sculptures by hand. What I like about it most is the blank canvas that the wood provides me because it is literally full of endless opportunities. I can go from carving a table to making a sculpture if I want because the possibilities are endless. Computer generated furniture and sculptures are cool, but I really believe the handmade ones are works of art that can’t be beaten.”

The artist’s “canvas” doesn’t just have to be stretched over a frame, it can by anything that you see as the beginning of a great new project. Chris saw wood as his blank canvas, and that provided him endless opportunities to craft the artworks that he loves most. In other words, anything can be your canvas if you put your mind to it.

Keep at it, Chris, you have a talent that will keep developing until you can make the works that you adore, and, to everyone reading, keep at your craft. One day, you might just surprise yourself.