Louise Wilde’s practice centres on transforming wood into sculptural forms that challenge its perceived solidity and tradition. Working primarily through woodturning, she extends the material beyond functional objects, drawing instead on the fluid, organic qualities more commonly associated with glass and ceramics. Guided by the idea “if you can throw it or blow it, you can turn it,” her work explores how far wood can be pushed, both technically and conceptually.

Her process is grounded in turning and reassembly, where individual elements are shaped and then brought together to create complex, dynamic forms. This allows her to suggest movement within the work—forms that appear to unfurl, tilt, or lean, as though caught in a moment of growth or responding to their environment. Rather than presenting static objects, her pieces evoke the way flowers open, stems bend, or fungi emerge and collapse over time. She works in close dialogue with the timber itself, allowing grain, density, and natural irregularities to influence both the making process and the final composition. This interplay ensures that each work retains a connection to its origin while being transformed into something unexpected.

This body of work explores imagined botanical forms, particularly flowers and fungi, as expressions of change. Distorted and reinterpreted, they reflect cycles of growth, decay, and regeneration. Alongside organic forms, Wilde introduces steampunk elements—metallic finishes, riveted surfaces, engineered details—blurring boundaries between the natural and her imagination.

The theme of Changing Natures is embedded in both material and method. Wood, already shaped by time and environment, is further altered through her process, becoming something that appears fluid, mechanical, or transient. Louise’s practice does not seek to show nature in a single state, but to reflect its variety and continual motion—capturing forms as if mid-change, suspended between one state and the next.

artist bio

Louise Wilde is a contemporary wood sculptor based in Ireland whose practice transforms wood into dynamic, non-functional forms. Working primarily through woodturning, she extends traditional techniques into sculptural territory, drawing on approaches associated with glass and ceramics to reimagine wood as a fluid and expressive medium. Using locally sourced, often green or storm-felled timber, she works in close dialogue with the material, allowing its movement, grain, and irregularities to shape each piece.

Wilde’s work has received growing national and international recognition through awards, exhibitions, and publications. She is a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award (2024), alongside Mayo County Council Artist Bursaries in 2024 and 2026, and the Irish Woodturners Guild Bursary (2025). Her practice has also been supported by the American Association of Woodturners and the Arrowmont School of Art & Craft, USA. Her work has been featured in American Woodturner Magazine and in a range of international interviews and publications.

She has exhibited widely in Ireland, including at the Linenhall Arts Centre, as part of the Irish Woodturners Guild 40th Anniversary Exhibition, as well as in a collaborative exhibition, Resonant Vessels during the Westival Arts Festival. An approved demonstrator with the Irish Woodturners Guild, Wilde regularly delivers demonstrations, teaching, and mentoring, contributing to the development of contemporary wood practice.

Wilde continues to expand her sculptural language through ongoing study in Fine Art (Mixed Media and Painting) at Mayo College of Further Education, alongside mentorship with leading international practitioners. Her work reflects a sustained exploration of how wood can be pushed beyond tradition, capturing fluid forms balanced between growth, transformation, and instability.