Renaissance of a Gingko

The Renaissance of a Gingko - Rudy Loeser - Some readers may recall, in this publication, a two-part story in October of 2002 concerning the battle to save a Gingko Biloba tree, which once stood behind the disused CN station in Kelowna. Part one of the tale "Saving the Gingko" explored the history of this beautiful tree. Part Two "Epitaph for a Tree" was published on the Seniors Choice website a week later and dealt with the sudden destruction and removal of the tree, which left no trace of its existence behind. It was said that the Canada Lands Company was saving the trunk of the tree in order to have it fashioned into a bench, eventually to be located on the site behind the old station house. We'd forgotten that promise until we chatted with Errol Redman. Errol worked for the BC Ministry of Highways for 37 years before retiring, and moving to Kelowna with his wife, Noreen. It was then that his life turned in a new direction. He saw, in a store, a wooden bowl fashioned on a lathe by a long-forgotten artisan. He remembers it as a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. He pointed to it and said to Noreen, "That is something I want to do." He bought a lathe, the first of five he was to acquire over the next nine years, and began learning his craft. He read books about trees and their characteristics, and collected pieces of trees wherever he could find them. He collected pieces of ash, elm, cedar, cherry, apple, poplar, plus any exotic wood he could find. Then he began a new career as an artisan-wood turner. He began to turn wood into memorable and beautiful vessels. His home on Dilworth Mountain appears to be totally given over to his creations that include bowls of all sizes, each polished to a high gleam, which reveals all striations of the tree from which each piece came. The lower floor of the house also contains drying rooms for freshly cut wood that, in time will be assembled and glued into blocks to facilitate the turning of larger pieces. The process may involve an initial rough turning which will determine the shape of the piece. This rough item will then be tightly wrapped in newspapers in which it will dry, the moisture being absorbed by the newsprint, until the time comes for the finish turning. The whole thing is utterly fascinating and more so because it takes us back to our story of the Gingko. It appears that part of the tree which so many had tried to save had been delivered to Errol Redman by the Canada Land Company, to be fashioned into bowls which would then become corporate gifts for friends and associates of the company. Beautiful bowls from a beautiful tree. Were we to own one, we might be tempted to fill it with dried biloba leaves that, according to herbalists, have health-giving properties. We would also be tempted to own one of the scorched rim pine bowls Errol made from the burnt forest of the great Okanagan fire, as a memento of that horrible week. We are tempted by those, and others of his creations, like one of the pepper mills that have been turned on Errol's lathe from the wood of different trees. There is a studio full of beautiful and unique gifts made by this talented artisan working under the corporate name of Carman's Creations. Dead trees, like our Gingko, are being re-formed into works of art. Errol Redman can be reached in Kelowna at 860-9965.

 

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