Michael Hosaluk

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Michael Hosaluk, “Tables,” 2019

maple, milk paint and gramophone turntables (courtesy of the artist; photo by Trent Watts)

It’s hard to find one focus in Michael Hosaluk’s work. He makes tables, benches and other furniture, small functional objects like painted bowls, and sculptural objects, large and small, that are purely decorative. He’s even dabbled in public art.

But his latest exhibition, Wood Woodn’t, at the Slate Gallery in Regina, has one common link – everything is related, somehow, to wood, even if that’s not immediately obvious. 

“A lot of artists, they’ll find one vein of work and work through it and it’s all similar,” says Hosaluk, who lives near Saskatoon. “Whereas, me, I wake up and just make anything. I may not be in that same way of thinking as I was the week before.”

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Michael Hosaluk, “Raven Bowls,” 2019

silver maple and milk paint (courtesy of the artist; photo by Trent Watts)

Many of the 50-odd pieces in the show, on view until Nov. 30, are the result of his curiosity, which drives him to experiment with new processes and ideas.

For instance, he became fascinated by the turntable of an old gramophone player he picked up at a garage sale. He figured it would make a good tabletop so he created a maple pedestal that looks like a beehive with a long bulbous spindle. The concentric circles around the wood make one think of both a tree’s annual growth rings and the grooves of gramophone records. 

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Michael Hosaluk, “Passage #1,” 2019

elm (courtesy of the artist; photo by Trent Watts)

The show also includes two versions of Passage that he made with a chunk of elm and a chainsaw. 

“I just woke up last Sunday, and I felt like they were in my head,” he says. “And I just let them out and made them.”  

Hosaluk, 65, was born in Invernay, a village east of Saskatoon, and started out as a cabinetmaker. But he soon got bored, and decided one day 40 years ago to simply do what he wanted. Things took off for him and he never turned back. 

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Michael Hosaluk, “Artifacts (shell form),” 2019

ash, birch, madrone burl and milk paint (courtesy of the artist; photo by Trent Watts)

His work can be humourous, and is often brightly cheerful. But it’s also elegant, with a strong sense of design. He has exhibited internationally and his work can be found in the collections of Buckingham Palace, the Yale University Art Gallery and the Royal Ontario Museum. 

Along the way, he has picked up various honours, including membership in the Royal Canadian Academy of Art, and has been featured in magazines such as Fine Woodworking and American Craft. ■

Wood Woodn’t  is on view at the Slate Gallery in Regina from Oct. 30 to Nov. 30, 2019.

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