Meet Dan and Janis Pollock of Pollock Works. Nonahood News discovered these Clermont, Florida based artists during an Art After Dark event and immediately was fascinated by their handcrafted work. The couple focuses all of their attention on creating and combining art and woodworking as their passion, which is also their job. Although they did not go to school for art or craftsmanship, they credit their “great mentors with amazing knowledge and skills.”
When he was younger, Dan dabbled in woodworking. He had a career in sales and general management in communications, technology, and engineering companies, leaving little to no time for his hobby of woodworking. Once Dan retired, he had run into an old friend who was creating woodwork. His friend, acting as a tutor, had rekindled Dan’s love for woodworking, especially woodturning with a lathe.
Janis is dubbed the creative one. She had owned a wholesale textile business where she worked alongside top designers and owned an interior design business as well. Also a painter who loved to work with acrylics and paint flowers and landscapes, her “keen eye for detail was the catalyst to bring Dan’s woodturning projects to life with beautiful finishing techniques.”
The couple combined their skills of design experience (Janis) to select useful and also unique hardware to adorn the handcrafted wooden pieces created by Dan. Pollock Works uses many exotic woods from all over the world.
Here is their story.
NHN: What drove you to become an artist? When did you realize wood crafting was your passion?
Pollock Works: Being an artist runs in the family as Janis’ mother was an accomplished oil painter who loved to capture the rural prairie landscape and its big skies. Our oldest daughter is an accomplished pianist and has her degree in business. Our youngest daughter has a fine arts degree from the University of Florida and expresses her creativity in many forms from theatre acting and singing to drawing and sculpture.
So, being an artist has been very much a part of our lives over the years, so it was not a big leap for us to combine our creativity and skills in the development of our woodworking craft.
NHN: How long have you been a craftsman/artist?
PW: I guess we have both been craftsmen/artists all our lives, but it is only after we retired that we have [had] the time to find a medium where we both could use our skills to create products that are both beautiful and useful.
NHN: How often do you find yourself creating art/products?
PW: During the fall and winter, we work three art shows/markets a week, and the rest of the time we are in the shop creating product[s].
NHN: Which of your pieces would you consider to be your favorites? (Pick a top three.)
PW: Our most popular products are our pepper and salt mills, pizza cutters and ice cream scoops. We love to create a little piece of art for someone’s kitchen counter or dining room that is not only beautiful but useful as well. We like to call it “useful art.”
NHN: Which of your projects was the most time-consuming/challenging and why?
PW: By far, our most time-consuming products are our custom coffee grinders. This is our own unique design, and we take great pride in creating this item. The challenge with the design is the need for precision milling, woodturning challenges, and finishing of the large format pieces. Although time-consuming, the result is a unique piece of “useful art.”
NHN: What are some of your dream projects?
PW: We are always looking for new ideas that we can incorporate into our “useful art” product series. Many times, it is the luck of finding that unique and interesting block of wood that creates the dream projects.
NHN: What serves as your inspiration on a day-to-day basis?
PW: We are inspired by people’s appreciation of our art and reaction to our products at the different art shows and markets. Seldom does someone stop and look at our products and not have a positive comment on how beautiful they think the pieces are.
NHN: Future goals/plans?
PW: We are very grateful to have had successful careers. Now, in retirement, the ability to pursue our art form and to have the opportunity to share it with people is truly a blessing. We are living our dream.
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We are looking for interesting artists who live in the Nonahood to be featured. If you or someone you know should be nominated to be a Nonahood News Featured Artist, send your nomination to nonahood.to/artist.
