Visit Tikkun Daily’s Art Gallery for more images Michael Ferris Jr.’s sculptures.

Most religions have long traditions of incorporating artwork into their practice: glass-stained windows, tapestries, paintings, sculptures, and statuary in temples are just some of the many forms. This bond between art-making and spiritual practice is clear in the work of Michael Ferris Jr., whose wood sculptures translate individuals into iconic and ambiguous monuments. He says:

When I work on these pieces I have my own personal, spiritual feelings. I get in touch with whatever that is, it’s a bit of a mystery, and I let it be a mystery.

The notion of mystery is vital here. Ferris grants the viewer the experience of getting lost in the patterns, colors, shapes, and detailing of his portrayals. He works to inspire awe and investigation, rather than assert a fixed meaning or message:

I don’t want people to feel like they have to analyze what I do, I want them to be moved by what I do. I want people to look at what I do and be at a loss for words, I want them to be touched, I want their emotions to be stimulated.

This sounds pretty similar to what some people define as a religious experience.

Art and faith work along similar belief systems. Both celebrate the beauty of humanity. Both address the negative manifestations of human nature but nevertheless acknowledge the beauty of the struggle and joy of human agency. Though they may each seem to have boundaries, rules, and limits, art and faith both facilitate a certain liberation that people cannot seem to find elsewhere. Believing in a greater power may not be different from believing in art. In actuality, what does a piece of art really do? It stirs the soul, and moves the mind. Faith can have a similar effect. But neither can be described or explained adequately; the inability to “prove” faith is equitable to the inability to “explain” a piece of art.

Michael Ferris Jr. hones in on the unknown in our stirrings toward both art and religion. His sculptures reflect what we see inside ourselves. I see them as an artistic manifestation of the spiritual complexities present inside the individual. There are patterns, brilliant colors, and varied textures: Ferris is essentially rendering souls. He says:

It’s an intuitive process. I like to think about who the [model] is as a spiritual and psychological presence, and the sculptures reflect that…I like to feel the individual, the deep feeling of what I’m experiencing in the process. As the piece unfolds and develops those feelings are put to work.

Emotionally powerful portraiture is certainly nothing new, but Ferris’s medium is unusual. He uses recycled wood and an inlay technique to create larger than life-sized, wooden busts. Ferris says using recycled materials came naturally to him:

Originally when I started making this sculpture I started using wood because it was cheap and I was in school. As time went on, I realized that no matter where I went I could find enormous amounts of wood: thrown-out chairs, tables, or futon frames. I didn’t ever need to buy the stuff. It was pretty much everywhere. At the time when I was making sculpture, I realized it was appropriate for the concept of the work, and it also just felt right — the fact that all the wood was recycled, it was an evolution, it sort of developed. I didn’t start out originally with thoughts of making an eco-friendly work of art, but through making these pieces, I’ve become more into that idea, and I’m very happy that I’m doing something that feels good in that way.

The choice of recycled materials grants the sculptures surprising surfaces, and the additive process speaks to Ferris’ depictions. Small, re-used pieces of wood serve as unique, tiny components to distinctive portraits. The process of collecting used pieces of furniture or discarded materials to be cut up into tiny geometric pieces has a certain spiritual rigor. Ferris’s materials — having already been used by humans — have a memory or spirit inscribed in them. He grants them new life. The methodic process of building up the portrait through the inlay process furthermore cultivates the spirit of each sculpture. Ferris says his inlay technique is inspired by Syrian art:

My father is Lebanese. When I was growing up he had a number of Syrian inlaid gaming tables that he purchased in the Middle East when he was a young man. These tables were in my home when I was growing up. I always enjoyed looking at them, they really moved me. Those tables influenced me and made me interested in inlay technique.

The fusion of Middle Eastern inlay techniques and the Western classic tradition of bust-making lend Ferris’s portraits a unique, unexpected quality.

The effect spirituality and faith have on people is hard to write about, and Ferris seems to put it best himself when he calls it “intuitive.” The ways in which art and faith change the world and our perspective are never easily explained or shown, but nevertheless we feel the power of their presence.

To see more of Michael Ferris Jr.’s work, visit the Tikkun Daily Art Gallery and visit his website, where you’ll find images from his other projects, including some wonderful drawings.