Charissa Brock: Bamboo Sculpture



Charissa Brock: Bamboo Sculpture

About The Artist

Charissa Brock • Aloha, OR
Mixed Media • WHOLESALE AVAILABLE • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

Charissa Brock has been working with bamboo since 1999. Her work method stems from an interest in the complex structure of bamboo and its unlimited potential as a sustainable art material. She works narratively, creating a story within a piece, and formally, examining complexity of form and how to push the boundaries within her material. Her artwork is in the Arizona State University Museum, Rivermark Hotel, Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection, Oregon State Treasury, and the Hyatt Regency Maui.



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

I gather my bamboo from gardens and farms around Oregon, making friends with bamboo enthusiast in the process. After preparing the bamboo with heat to create an archival material, I split the bamboo into refined strips using traditional Japanese tools and or crosscut it and stack the elements. When I work I develop a system for creating a structure. I start with a simple form or material gesture and create that same form over and over again to create a complex structure.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

Bamboo, a plant with a rich history, is a remarkably versatile material with unlimited potential. It can be cut, layered, glued, and sanded like wood, or it can be split, bent, and woven, incorporating fiber techniques. Bamboo’s repetition of nodes, its hollow structure, and its flexibility create a challenge and versatility I enjoy working with. Bamboo, a continually renewable and sustainable resource, grows in a way that makes it easy to gather without worry about harming the plant.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

My families history in crafts and the plant world have influenced my work and lifestyle. My grandfather was a flower farmer for a living and a vegetable grower on the side. He instilled in me a love of nature and growing my own food. Quilters, weavers, jewelers, and gunsmiths dot the family tree. My mother, Emily Brock, a glass artist, cultivated my love of making. My life includes 11 chickens, a tiny dog Max, a creative teen, and a loving partner who collaborates in the garden.