Artist uncovers inner beauty of wood

Kimberley McGee

Monday, March 4, 2002 | 8:28 a.m.

Deep grooves form careful silhouettes in the artwork of Daryl DePry.

DePry's wood-cut prints and wood panels of laughing women, anguished men and abstract landscapes are on display through March 29 at the Winchester Center Gallery.

The wood-cut medium attracted local artist DePry because of its primitive and physical expressions, he said.

"You gouge down into the wood and it reveals different grains, colors," DePry said. "There's a different expression in every layer."

The role of artist is far from his first career intentions. When DePry, 31, first attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1989 he had dreams of becoming a geologist.

Although he had always dabbled in drawing, the natural history that geologists discover by removing earth and stone attracted DePry. He was close to graduating with a geology degree in 1995 when he stumbled upon wood-cut art.

"I wanted to make my mark and when I found wood cuts I thought, 'This is it,' " DePry said.

The stretch from geologist to artist wasn't far, he said. As he uncovers the different shades of the wood's rings that reveal the tree's age, it's almost as though he is exposing the wood's history, DePry said.

"I balance my geology background with my art," DePry said. "There's issues of time, history in the piece of wood I'm carving."

He digs into the grain of the wood to show depth and color in his depictions of desert scenes or dark moods in his subjects.

"Working with wood, there's a raw energy, maybe a little anger that I can get out and into the (artwork)," DePry said.

Each piece takes about one month to complete. He first draws the image on a piece of paper and then painstakingly carves that image into a block of wood.

One of his more recent pieces, titled "No sleep -- No Rest," was produced from three Baltic Birch plywood blocks of half-inch thickness. The 30-inch-tall piece is a self-portrait that was made in 2000 after the birth of DePry's son.

The dark-haired man leans into his folded arms. His messed hair and wrinkled shirt depict a father frazzled from the lack of sleep that many new parents experience.

"The work is very physical, very masculine," DePry said. "It's my thoughts, my mark, in the wood itself."

His next exhibit will be March 29-April 6 at UNLV's Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery.

Recently DePry became a member of Baren, an international woodworking art association. His work is displayed in galleries throughout the country, including exhibits in Chicago, Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida.

"I'm starting to get out there and have more shows," DePry said. "It's exciting to show my work to the public."