Levi Borgstrom

Levi Borgstrom
Born
Levi Petrus Borgstrom

(1919-11-07)7 November 1919
Lycksele, Sweden
Died25 July 2001(2001-07-25) (aged 81)
Titirangi, New Zealand
NationalitySwedish, New Zealander
Known forWoodturning, carving

Levi Petrus Borgstrom (7 November 1919 – 25 July 2001) was a Swedish-New Zealand carver.

Early life

Borgstrom was born in Lycksele, Sweden in 1919. As a teenager, he began using his father's tools to carve wooden cutlery and crockery and was strongly influenced by Saami and Norrland settler culture. His career was largely focused upon spoon carving.[1]

Career

In 1951, he moved to New Zealand and began incorporating New Zealand resources into his Scandinavian-influenced works. He used New Zealand and introduced timbers in his works, including kōwhai, tānekaha, akeake, rewarewa, mānuka, macrocarpa, cherry wood, privet, mangrove, and silky oak.[2]

Borgstrom worked by drawing a design on a piece of wood and roughly creating the shape using a Scandinavian bow saw. He would then use knives and chisels to further refine the carving, followed by work with files and rasps. The final stages of creating a spoon included sanding, waxing and oiling.[2]

Collections

His work is held in the collection of the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia.[1][3]

References

  1. ^ a b Blumhardt, Doreen; Brake, Brian (1981). Craft New Zealand: The art of the craftsman. Auckland: A.H. & A.W. Reed. p. 280. ISBN 0-589-01343-2. Archived from the original on 30 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Levi Borgstrom". Objectspace. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  3. ^ "92/1435 Spoon, wood, Levi Borgstrom, New Zealand, 1970-1979". Powerhouse Museum. Retrieved 10 December 2014.


Stub icon

This article about a New Zealand artist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.