art beat / By Katherine Almy

Agates and Myrtlewood

The Art of David Groth

(Feb. 7, 2008)  When you read about an artist as well known as David Groth, you find a lot of “artspeak.” Being an art historian, I am, of course, familiar with artspeak and have a basic understanding of it, but it still puts me off. It put me off when I was in school, and I might have changed my major if it weren’t for the art that helped me to see past the pretentious critiques to the truth about the work.

But not all people who write art reviews are trying to be pretentious. Truth to tell, it’s not easy to write about art and the process of making it. So you get descriptions like this one from an essay by Kevin Wallace in Craft Arts International, who states that David’s sculptures, “reflect both the organic and the abstract, evolving intuitively through the process of carving.”

Art by David Groth is on display at Piante Gallery, 620 Second St., in Eureka.

GALLERY >

I’ve read through several articles that have been written about David and I guess I get what they’re saying, but I want to try to tell you what is special about his work and explain what it’s like to evolve intuitively through a process. I want to tell you what the artist is like, because he’s a really interesting character. Here’s a little story that’s tangential to his work, but I think it’s telling. As we were shaking hands and I was thanking him for his time, I looked down at the gravel driveway. I saw a smooth, brilliant orange stone and picked up.

“Is this an agate?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered, with a grin. I saw another one and another. Some polished, some rough.

“My God, they’re all over the place!” I exclaimed. He’s collected hundreds of them over the years, and instead of putting them away in a precious box or bowl, he’s scattered them around his driveway. If you’re paying attention, you look down and see dozens of them at your feet. If you’re not, you walk right over them, as I did when I first arrived. And to think of all those agate collectors laboriously poring over the sands of the beaches. All they have to do is visit David Groth.

So what does this casualness with rare beauty signify? It certainly doesn’t represent the entirety of his personality, but it tells you a couple of important things. Here is someone who is diligent about seeking out the world’s marvels, and is equally generous in sharing them. Someone who believes it’s just as (or more) important to have treasures in your driveway as in a locked box. It was neat. It was neat to look down and find myself surrounded by lovely stones.

It’s not coincidence that he has so many agates. He spends a lot of time on the beaches around here, and the agates are a fringe benefit. He’s actually looking for large chunks of myrtlewood, washed up by storms. This is his chosen medium — reclaimed, to preserve the living trees; myrtle for its tensile strength, endurance and variety of texture and color. The hunting and gathering is very much a part of the process, and involves quite a bit of labor and even some adventure.

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