I DON'T distinguish between functional and decorative work - I think a bowl which just sits there for you to look at and run your hand along has as much function as a salad or fruit bowl," says Brother Ciaran Forbes, one of Ireland's best woodturners, who lives and works in Glenstal Abbey, Co Limerick.
His access to the 200 acres of woodlands at Glenstal provides him with a perfect backdrop for his craft. "The Barrington estate was one of the best planted estates in Ireland in the 19th century, and a lot of trees have fallen over the last 20 years," he says.
The old workshops and sheds in Glenstal are filled with abandoned logs. "One of the most exciting aspects of my work is discovering new timbers, their colours and figurings. Going into the woodsheds at Glenstal is for me like discovering valuable old bottles in an abandoned cottage." Glenstal provides such exotic offerings as tulip trees, handkerchief trees, Monkey Puzzles, Californian Redwoods and Eucalyptus.
"It would be great one day to take a pick-up truck to France and gather pieces of felled walnut and olive trees," he says, adding that he likes to try his hand at turning unexpected woods such as ivy, whitethorn and laurel.
Brother Ciaran joined Glenstal Abbey in 1961 and later spent three years studying at St Andre Abbey in the Belgian city of Bruges; a period which was to instill an appreciation for music, art and literature. His interest in woodturning began when two school boys from Glenstal brought a lathe into the carpentry workshop. "I had an immediate interest in experimenting with wood. I used to go down to the workshop during the holidays and on any time off.
A fellow Benedictine monk and art enthusiast, Brother Benedict Tutty, encouraged him to get some training. "I was teaching at the time but woodturning offered me an opportunity to be on top of something - which I never felt would happen in academic life."
An English woodturner, Richard Raffan, was an early mentor. So impressed was Forbes by Brother Ciaran's work that he cajoled the Devon-based wood-turner into allowing him to rough turn his wood for three months while learning the finer techniques of turning large bowls. "I built up great confidence in tool-turning and in understanding the exigence of the line," he says. "The visual and tactile sense is what I value most in the bowls."
And how does the commercial aspect of his work balance with the commitment of being a monk? "I am unashamedly in the commercial world and am at the same time contributing to the religious community financially through selling the bowls. St Benedict said we are truly monks if we live, by the work of our hands."