ABOUT THE ARTIST

Joel Gonnerman

Joel's interest in art began in grade school where he began experimenting with many different artistic mediums, from drawing, painting and sculpting with clay, to creating 3D animals and objects with paper, and crafting with duct tape. As he got older, he turned to wood burning and created several detailed pieces of art. When his dad decided he was old enough, he introduced him to turning wood on the lathe.

Now a young entrepreneur at the age of 21, Joel's artistic nature and eye for beautiful woods makes his hand crafted, one of a kind wood turnings truly a work of art. Because Joel is also very "math-brained", he doesn't use any patterns, taking pride in creating and calculating all his own original designs.

Joel's artwork has won awards and scholarships including his most recent award earned at the Area 47 Show at the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum, which won the top honor, the "Excellence Award." In 2019, his vessel entitled "African Diamonds" made of walnut, wenge, and zebra wood, won 1st place at the prestigious AWFS Wood turning Competition in Las Vegas. He has also won awards at the local art show, and the Top of Iowa Conference where he won 1st place in the Sculpture-Non Clay category, and 3-D Best of Show in 2018, and 2019, along with a scholarship to Waldorf College.