Charles Culpepper Creates Art from Wood Chunks. Legally Blind, He Sees Purpose for Each Piece

Sun Herald
Sunday, August 13, 1995
Section: Arts and Leisure, Page: G8
Leslie Cross, Vicksburg Evening Post (MS)

When large limbs fall or trees topple in their entirety, folks call on Charles Culpepper.

Actually, they're doing him a favor. The wood provides a starting place for Culpepper's hobby.

In his metal-roofed studio, the 68-year-old Culpepper takes to his lathe and creates works of art from chunks of wood.

He's a woodturner.

The East Alabama native concedes his creative kinship with wood probably comes from his father, who was a master carpenter.

The son, however, did not receive paternal encouragement to take up his father's profession.

"He wouldn't even let me help him," Culpepper said. "He told me long ago if he ever saw me pick up a hammer to make a living, he'd take it and knock me in the head.

"I guess he figured there were easier ways to make a living."

He sees it as hobby

Retired from the insurance business, Culpepper claims wood turning as a hobby.

It's a hobby for which he has gained no small amount of admiration.

A lifetime woodworker, Culpepper became serious about wood turning in 1987. Since that time he's become a member of the Craftmen's Guild of Mississippi, the Mississippi Woodworkers Association and the American Association of Woodturners.

He has shown his finished wood pieces at various art shows and has presented pieces in fine art galleries in San Antonio, Texas, and at The Attic Gallery in Vicksburg.

Culpepper migrated to Mississippi in the mid-'50s. His family's lived in Rolling Fork since 1967.

'This town's been good to us'

"This town's been good to us," said Culpepper, who served on the town's board of aldermen for 19 years. "Our two daughters married local boys. One lives next door; the other, five houses down the street."

Now legally blind, Culpepper continues to see the possibilities in each scrap of wood.

"I had to get away from dimensional-type woodwork," he said. "I can turn without seeing very well."

Before entering his studio to begin a new work, Culpepper's goal is always the same -- "to produce a gallery-quality piece of wood."

After the wood is turned into the desired shape -- primarily vase-shaped hollow forms, the process is relatively simple, Culpepper said.

"Sand it smooth. Apply a coat of oil for a sealer. Buff it smooth on a wheel. Wax and polish. That's it."

Beauty is found within

He uses various types of wood for his projects, but admits he makes most of his natural treasures from what most folks would call waste wood.

The artist doesn't need 20/20 vision to envision the endless possibilities in the wood.