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A Bunch of creations
Tammara Green/Post-Register
Don Bunch is an accomplished wood worker who enjoys showing his creations.
Don Bunch has spent 28 years in the Quincy Valley. He moved here from the Maple Valley area with his wife, Jennifer, and their three children, Kimberly, Christie and Teresa, when he bought a farm in George.
\He mostly grew alfalfa hay there until he sold the farm eight years ago. After the children grew up, Bunch latched onto a new hobby which has since become a lifestyle.
It all began 15 years ago when Bunch saw an artist demonstrating intarsia on a scroll in a building. The medium was wood and the artist was creating a piece of intarsia, which is defined as wooden inlay, but is actually pieces that are carved all the way through and put together like a puzzle. He was inspired to try it and was lucky enough to come across artist Judy Gale Roberts selling intarsia patterns.
“The art of intarsia started in Italy in the 15th century. Judy is the reason intarsia still exists. She is the only one who makes the patterns I like,” said Bunch.
In 2001, Bunch went to Seymour, Tenn. to take beginning and intermediate intarsia classes from Roberts. In 2010, he had made such an impression on Roberts that he was chosen as one of eight students to attend her expert class at her studio. “She and her father started out doing murals for commercial buildings. They revitalized the art,” said Bunch.
It has taken nearly 10 years for Bunch to consider himself somewhat proficient at his art, but indeed he has reached a level of expertise. Bunch makes everything from people and animal still lifes to crucifixes. He is responsible for creating the wooden eagle at Monument, the hawk at Quincy Junior High and the still life of George Washington at George City Hall.
He was also commissioned to make a crucifix for the Catholic Church in Wenatchee. His favorite subject is dogs, since he has always cared for them and been around them since he was 2 years old. “I love wood and I love to play with it,” he said.
Throughout the past 15 years Bunch has devoted to his hobby, his wife has helped him to keep an organized and detailed portfolio of his work. He also works with wood inlay, and makes things like whistles and kaleidoscopes with a router. From time to time, he makes pieces of furniture. “I don’t make furniture that often. I only make it for my wife,” he said. Some of the most impressive feats in wood Bunch has created are his wooden vases. These are made up entirely of wood segments put together.
Intarsia is still number one in his book. To get started, Bunch orders patterns from Judy Gale Roberts and then cuts and carves out the pieces and puts them together. He stressed that creating the pattern itself is extremely difficult. The patterns cost anywhere from $8.95 to $30. Once the intarsia project is started, it takes a long time to finish.
“For a pattern that consists of 26 pieces, it can take up to 10 hours. It takes 45 minutes for each coat of stain. That’s almost three hours for the time it takes just to paint,” said Bunch.
He likes living in the Quincy Valley, and in George he gets all the peace and quiet he needs to create in his workshop.
For more information on intarsia or classes, go online to intarsia.com.
