Artists & Designers
Presenting "Daryl Stokes" (Stohans)
About the Artist: In the early 70’s, Daryl Stokes completed studies of fine arts at the University of South Florida in Tampa and ventured west to Monterey, Ca. While living in a bungalow on Jacks Peak, Stokes built a small workshop and began designing and creating redwood furniture as a hobby. Originally an abstract expressionist painter, he became intrigued with driftwood and burls. The endless array of shapes and sizes lent themselves to unique freeform designs. In October 1977, Stohans opened a small gallery at 807 Cannery Row. The gallery was a unique organic environment with groupings of sofas and chairs covered with leather and sheepskins, driftwood bars, lamps, and various freeform burl tables. Public response was very favorable and increasing popularity made it necessary to create more products. The small workshop in Jacks Peak could not keep up with the demand and more area was needed for raw wood storage. A year later, Stohans secured a new shop location at 484 Cannery Row. It was housed in the large cannery building called the San Xavier. The reduction plant still had remnants of the old fishing industry machines and equipment. Situated at the shoreline’s edge, the tall wooden building, isolated by vacant lots with other cement cannery foundations, served as a truly inspirational setting for the artistic endeavors of Stokes and Hansen. In the months that followed, new woodworking facilities were built and Stohans began hiring and training more craftsman. Masses of driftwood were salvaged from northern California beaches and burls hauled down from logged-off mountains. For several years, Stohans continued to enlarge its production capacity and began supplying other galleries in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Lake Tahoe. Eventually, Stokes decided that the wholesale ventures became increasingly repetitive and artistically restraining, so he began concentrating more energy into designing more exotic, specialized pieces which could only be found at the Stohans Gallery. Because of this new versatility, Stohans produced many custom-order furnishings which included complete driftwood furniture groups for rooms, offices, restaurants, and entire homes. During the 1980’s, Stohans began producing original new designs of indoor/outdoor redwood fountains and massive waterfalls made from hollowed-out burls. Exotic furniture pieces were also conceived and included enormous curved sofas and lounges upholstered with sheepskins. There were beds, dressers, huge mirrors, standing lamps, bar sets, wall designs, abstract sculptures, and many other incredible one-of a kind pieces. Stohans became increasingly popular as a tourist destination and achieved recognition as one of the most unique galleries in the California central coast. Among the many delighted visitors, one man called it "A visual feast!" It was always difficult to describethe store, you just had to experience it for yourself. Stohans participation in Cannery Row’s strong tourist industry was conducive to the gallery’s development of national and international clientel. Many of their purchases were crated and shipped coast to coast as well as world wide. In the late 1990's, the STOHANS GALLERY property was sold and Daryl Stokes ceased production. After taking a 10 year sabatical, Daryl has now resumed creating his magnificant abstract redwood sculptures again.
About the abstract redwood sculptures:
No living trees have been cut to create these works of art. In fact, Daryl has given new life, in the form of sculpture, to trees who have succumbed to the harsh winds of winter storms, lighting, landslides and other natural occurrences. These majestic giants can now live on in his artistic creations!
Dynamic redwood sculpture which depicts a series of abstract fragmented earthly plateaus with bold facets. The virtual plateus wrap sharply around a sculptured central monolithic form which gives the impression that the plateaus are moving towards each other. This modern redwood burl sculpture eminates strength with dramatic contrasts between the shear sided geometric designs and the flowing organic natural burl areas. At the same time there are some graceful transitional areas from the hard flat surfaces to the softer natural edges. As the viewer walks around the sculpture, it becomes apparent that the personality of sculpture changes remarkably, revealing new characteristics with each viewing angle. This abstract sculpture has been composed with individual redwood burls which have been carved with chain saws, shaped with grinders and hand crafted to further enhance the forms. Each sculpture is totally unique and cannot be duplicated.
These majestic giants live on in his artistic creations. Combining the organic burl with new geometric shapes, which offer a view of the beautiful grain, the artist, Daryl Stokes, is able to offer a one of a kind sculpture to be enjoyed for years to come. Ground shipping only. Shipping quote calculated on destination. Currently, he is showing his sculpture at the Phillips Collection in the grand Las Vegas World Market Building A as well as the Crystal Fox Gallery on Cannery Row.
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