Visual language, and how it comes to be expressed, is not (at least for me) the same as verbal / textual language (and as an artist, a writer and an attorney, I've seen all sides).

Visual art does carry meaning, of course, but the fullest meaning arises during and after the work is created, not before.

W. Logan Fry outside his studio in rural Ohio

If you write a novel or short story, you should at least have a notion of the characters, the plot, the setting and the situations. Granted, a writer will tell you that often the characters will go their own ways, and develop their own momentum as the story progresses. That is an intrinsic part of that creative writing process.

But meaning in the visual arts is the result of the making process, not the precursor. Visionary, unself-censored visual art is driven by the force of the informed subconscious.

How different it is from the formulaic art you may see as prints in frame shops or on greeting cards, where color, texture and verse are market tested before committed to paper, canvas or (now) computer screen.

But how is the creative process sparked? Is it like confronting Pollock's great white canvas, as portrayed in the movie bearing his name? For my wood sculpture -- call them blockheads if you wish (and this is where the curator comes in to put names on everything), it comes from seeing spirits in nature, and specifically the spirits revealed in the knots and gnarls of wood.

The forest has always been a spooky place for humans, because there are so many other beings residing there. So when I see a nose, or eyes, or twisted mouth in a piece of wood, I try to help release the spirit within; and in that process, the spirit tells me that which it wishes to tell.

The methods I use are not the ones an artist learns in art school, although some may be. I use ordinary small tools like hand saws, hand drills, files and sandpaper. They are the tools found in the shop of any farm; and if I need a special jig to drill holes at the proper angle, I build one myself.

Slowly the spirit evolves and springs forth. And reveals its inner meaning. But that does not end the matter.

Whatever meaning I may myself attribute to a piece of art is altogether irrelevant to the meaning seen by others. Art isn't a simple "this means that" sort of thing. Hopefully others will see other meanings altogether