MORGAN HILL — Don Jensen is a modern-day alchemist.
Hundreds of years after medieval scientists tried their hand
chemistry, hoping to change base metals into gold, Jensen found
that all it takes is a good piece of wood, his woodworking tools
and his imagination to turn an ordinary object into something quite
valuable.
MORGAN HILL — Don Jensen is a modern-day alchemist.
Hundreds of years after medieval scientists tried their hand chemistry, hoping to change base metals into gold, Jensen found that all it takes is a good piece of wood, his woodworking tools and his imagination to turn an ordinary object into something quite valuable.
“Today, the definition (of alchemy) is turning something plain or boring into something special,” Jensen explained.
Jensen’s woodworking skills have earned him honors as Gallery Morgan Hill’s Featured Artist for the month of March, and his works will be featured at the gallery, located at 17490 S. Monterey Road, until the end of the month. There will be a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the gallery.
Among Jensen’s works are furniture, carvings, bowls, wine toppers, pepper grinders, wood quilts, kitchen utensils and a perspective trellis, which is something Jensen created to help add depth to a small room or yard. The pieces range in price from $10 to $10,000, but what makes each piece worth more than any price tag is the story behind each piece of work that Jensen does.
“Take those candlesticks,” Jensen said as he pointed to a pair of wooden candlesticks on the mantle above his fireplace. “When you out that it was one of my very first projects as a Cub scout when I was 13 years old – I’m 47 now.
“And the mirror behind it was designed for this house,” he said, referring to a large mirror with waves carved across the top. “The curves of the wood match the fireplace, the glass of the mirror was handed down to us and my family growing up lived by the water.”
Jensen finds meaning in every piece, whether it comes from the history of the piece of wood or the meaning behind something he carved.
“People love stories,” he said.
Jensen’s own story behind his interest in woodworking begins when he was a boy growing up on military bases all over the world. His father had done some woodwork of his own, making furniture as a young man, but Jensen actually got turned on to woodworking because of a project.
“Since 13, I’ve been diddling with it,” he said. “I was a military brat, and I was earning my woodworking badge for scouts. My dad took me down to the woodworking shop on the base and turned me loose.”
Jensen has been working with wood ever since. He earned a degree in landscape architecture and owns his own landscape designing business that he runs through his Morgan Hill home. But when business slowed down with a poor economy and winter – a slow season for landscaping – looming, Jensen decided to turn his evening and weekend hobby into a full-time job in October.
“It’s very fulfilling,” said Jensen, even though it isn’t really paying off. “Right now, it’s just covering the cost of the shop. We’re living on the wages of my wife’s teaching salary.”
Jensen creates his works in a carriage house behind his Morgan Hill home, which has its own historic background. The home, built in 1904, has been designated by the historic society. The 1,800-square-foot house was the home of an early Morgan Hill doctor. It also has a 200-year-old oak tree in the front yard.
Jensen built the carriage house in his back yard 10 years ago and began turning it into a work shop, where he has dozens of in-progress works.
“I’ve got a million projects going on all the time,” Jensen said. “I’m always looking for something weird and unusual. I love defects because the add character.”
“It’s basically a two-year process before I can even use it.”
After being milled, the slabs of wood spend one year in a covered shed before they are moved into an unheated room in the upstairs of the carriage house for another year, giving the wood a chance to dry out.
“I have to have the wood at less than 10 percent humidity to work with it,” he said. “You have to have a slow process because it minimizes cracking.”
Jensen gets his woods from local sources.
“A lot of friends drop stuff off,” said Jensen, who also gets wood from Mariani Orchards.
“Everything’s local, everything’s safe from the woodpile,” said Jensen, who only uses tiny scraps leftover from his work to burn in a fireplace. “There’s a lot of good wood that can be recycled. Nothing goes to waste; it’ll get very small before I let it go.”
Jensen takes large pieces of wood into a shop to have it milled down into workable pieces, but does any wood that he can handle on his own in his own shop.
“One of the reasons I like milling my own woods is so I can catalogue them,” Jensen said.
Jensen keeps the pieces together and in order so he can match pieces together, which helps create a nice effect.
“Book matching is a big deal,” he said.
When Jensen’s works are completed, whatever his wife doesn’t take.
“She gets the first pick of any of the work I do,” he said. “I’m surprised she doesn’t take more.”
Jensen also has two daughters in college, and he sent them off to school with their custom bedroom sets.
While Jensen knows the story behind each of his pieces and has a grasp over everything he works on, finding things in his shop don’t come so easy. The shop, complete with large wood cutting and shaping tools, also is filled with piles of wood to work with and two large work benches with almost no space left because of box after box of tools and wood.
“Any good shop is a mess,” Jensen said. “You can sharpen your tools and clean all day and get nothing done.”
That certainly is the mantra for a man who not only designs landscapes and does art, but sits on several downtown committees, plays tuba for the Morgan Hill Wind Symphony and mentors junior high school students in music.
“I have a very strong penchant in giving back to the community,” he said. “I’m at the point in my life where I’m into giving back to the community, helping kids, setting an example.”
Jensen is into so many things that he seems to run out of time to do it all. Among his interests that he has given up on are photography and ceramics – just because there is not enough time.
” I have to put blinders on and avoid things,” he said. “I just focus on the things that are the most rewarding to me.”
Jensen said this will be the first showing of his work at a gallery, and he was thankful for the help of other local artists and the gallery for giving him guidance.
“I’ve been very well received there,” Jensen said. “I couldn’t have done it without their help, in terms of support and in terms of learning. “That’s what I love about the business – It’s a lifelong process of learning.”
Reception: 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Gallery Morgan Hill, 17490 Monterey Road.
Hours: Open 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
For more information visit www.gallerymorganhill.org or call 776-7990.
