As a child Stephenson would visit his grandfather, a chair maker, and watch him turn spindles for chairs.

 

“He would set me up on the workbench so I could see,” Stephenson said. “Actually it was to get me out of the way.”

 

Wanting to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Stephenson tried his hand at the same thing in shop class in high school.

 

While at college he continued to work in wood, making custom furniture. He was interested in Victorian reproductions, specifically specialty tables with moving parts.

 

The process of turning, or shaping table legs on a lathe, intrigued him. However, Stephenson soon moved on to other woodworking projects.

 

“I migrated from tables occasionally turning to occasionally turning tables,” he said.

 

Stephenson takes great care in finding the right piece of raw timber for his woodturning. He has an advanced idea of what he wants a piece to look like, and then goes about trying to find the right tree to get him there.

 

He spent weeks looking for a trunk that had its heartwood rotten, so he could shape a vessel with a hole in the side. He would find a piece and either the rot was too big or not big enough. He finally discovered a piece that he felt was right, only to have the feature he had sought so long for hang up on the lathe. A little duct tape fixed that problem.

 

While living for a time in the Mid-West Stephenson said it was almost a standard for homes to have at least one stained glass window either flanking the fireplace or in the stairwell.

 

By experimenting, he found a way to mimic the effect of the colored glass in his wooden creations. With airbrushed acrylic paints, pen and ink stippling, and minute cutouts, Stephenson was able to create vessels reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s geometric windows.

 

Using mainly timber from road and housing construction sites, Stephenson’s driveway is lined with felled tree trunks, boles of hard wood, a chopping block and a thick coating of sawdust.

 

He favors cherry, dogwood and other fruit trees for its fine grain, dark wood. Blackgum, Southern magnolia and sycamore offer light, pale wood.

 

“Apple is marvelous,” he said.

 

Some area hardwoods, he said, are a little unpredictable. Wind damage from summer storms and hurricanes can cause internal cracks that aren’t apparent until an art piece is being shaped.

 

“Sand pine is not good,” he said. “Oaks are very brittle.”

 

When he completes a piece of artwork, if he likes what he has created, it will become the basis for a continuing artistic line or scheme, such as his “Sky-Sun-Sea-Sand” vessels now on display at the Coast Branch Library in Santa Rosa Beach.

 

Each piece of woodwork goes through several steps from selection to primitive shaping, to turning, to drying and on and on. He estimates that one piece could need as many as 1,200 hours to complete, working 10-12 hours a day, six days a week.

 

Turning one vase, he said might take two or three days, barring any unforeseen defects in the wood that would mean starting over.

 

For a serving platter, Stephenson said he starts with a three-inch thick slab of wood that has been cut from a four-foot trunk. The wood is crudely shaped then left to “cure,” or dry out, which can take as much as 18 months, depending on the weather.

 

He said that because of this lag time, he has several projects going at a time.

 

“I have the tendency to work in multiples, usually three or six,” he said. “I may get four good ones out of that.”

 

An award-winning artist, published author, and college instructor, Stephenson said his art is what he does for fun.

 

“Every piece is a challenge, a creative expression,” he said. “I don’t have to do this to make a living. I can be innovative, creative, and live on the cutting edge. I don’t have to do traditional kitchenware to pay the bills. I have more license, more opportunity to pursue more interesting and creative paths. When it’s not fun anymore, I’ll do something else.”

 

Stephenson, who was named 2007 Artist of the Year by the Walton County Tourist Development Center, is active in Art in Public Places and has submitted works for consideration in this year’s ArtsQuest.