The Artwork of Alan Irwin

Veh, 2008

Maple and Cherry

2½ inches diameter x 6¼ inches height

Pyrography, Vulcan Script

This hollow vase is engraved with a stylized Vulcan calligraphy. The Vulcan language is artificial, created for the Star Trek franchise owned by Paramount. Although a spoken syntax and vocabulary have been developed for the language, the written script has not been standardized. The calligraphy script I’ve used on this piece has been derived from images seen on TV and in movies. There is no translation for this script.

The title Veh is the Vulcan word for “one”.

As with each piece in my Script series, I am interested more in the abstract imagery of the script rather than the translation of the language.

Kabbalah, 2008

Poplar and Mahogony

3¾ inches diameter x 1½ inches height

Pyrography, Hebrew Script

Private Collection

This hollow vase is engraved with the Shemhamphorasch (also known as the 72-Letter Name of God), a symbolic pattern created by medieval kabbalists. There are actually 3 lines of 72 Hebrew characters in this pattern, and the number of symbolic meanings derived from this arrangement of characters is mind twisting.

The lettering is engraved by burning it into the poplar wood.

As with each piece in my Script series, I’m more interested in the abstract patterns created by the script than the meanings created by the source language.

Welcome to my gallery. My name is Alan Irwin, and I’ll be posting images and description of my newer woodturnings as I complete them, as well as making a record of the older pieces that I’ve completed over the years.

There is a more complete discussion of who I am and how I create my sculptures in the About page on this site. This is the first post; you won’t find any earlier than this one.