PDW in the studio

“Nature is an honest standard we can turn to… her shapes are a gift. I change them with care.” – Paul Wilson

Pop died October 22 at Stanford Medical Center from complications of heart bypass surgery. For the last 20 months he was living with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a type of terminal blood cancer. The cancer diagnosis was a terrible shock but, as with most things, he kept a positive attitude and productive pace as he continued sculpting, playing tennis, and engaging with friends and family with a vigor and enthusiasm of a man half his age. Unfortunately, he got a double-whammy about 6 months ago as symptoms of heart disease emerged, leading to heart attacks, angio procedures and ultimately a big surgery where he lost his life.

Even when the heart problems slowed him down, Pop stayed active and engaged, creating many beautiful sculptures and enriching the lives of his family, friends and customers in countless ways.

He was a man who made little fuss and said few words and it was his wish not to have any formal memorial service. However, as his passing leaves such a big hole in many of our lives we thought we would create this site as a place to remember, rejoice and share thoughts and stories about Paul and his remarkable life.

Click on the “comment” link at the bottom of this post to see the contributions of others and to share your own thoughts. Or send an email (shawnwilson@yahoo.com) if you have more lengthy text or pictures you’d like to share with others.

We also added some picture galleries and a video of Paul at the Carmel Valley studio. You can see the links at left. More pictures and captions are being added each day. More posts are also in the works, so keep coming back to get a hit of Paul during this difficult time of mourning.

Love,
Dore, Rory, Shawn

I had the privilege of being Paul Wilson’s sister, and what an extraordinary privilege that was! On October 22 I lost my best friend. We were the only siblings in the Wilson household and, being close in age, we were very close in other ways also. Our father died suddenly while we were still in high school, and Paul became my “male” model and “father” figure as well as my brother. In other words, he kept me in line. I owe much of my “upbringing” to him.

I knew when we were growing up that I had a brother who would leave his mark on many people. He was such a humble, gentle person, but one who possessed so many talents. No matter what field he tried he excelled – scholastic endeavors, sports, music, the arts, human relations; he just seemed to have it all.

His career could have taken many directions, but he chose medicine because he always wanted to help others. However, he will probably be best remembered for his love of nature and his beautiful sculptures which can be found world-wide. Those things will never die.

REST IN PEACE, MY BROTHER – I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART

Gin
(Mary Virginia Walker)

OK, this is Shawn adding a little more color from something Aunt Gin sent me recently:

” He played trumpet in our high school band and he had a habit of coming home after a date, standing on the front porch and playing Taps to let all the neighbors know  he was safely in. Now those Taps have blown for him and we have lost a great man.”

I rode into the Valley and up Cachagua road today, accompanied by the sounds of the wind and Shubert’s “Death and the Maiden” quartet on Pop’s mp3 player (the Andante was the last track he had played). It was one of those crisp, clear October days. Erratic winds were swirling and leaves were dropping form the Oaks, Sycamores and Buckeyes lining the road. Everything was so vibrant and beautiful.

I inherited a love and respect for nature from dad, but I have rarely had such a deep experience of nature in all her exquisite beauty and perfection as I did on this ride. This is what Pop loved. I felt his presence so strongly.

As the G-minor andante played through and my legs pumped up the hill, I felt a bottomless sadness and desolation and at the same time the most exquisite joy. The depth of feeling was beyond anything I have ever experienced. Dad was gone but his very essence was palpably present in the natural beauty surrounding me. I always thought about Pop when riding in the Valley. Every hill, slope, canyon and tree shape echoed his love for nature and the sculpture he created to express that love.

Just as the temporarily optimistic D-minor Presto started to play I rounded a corner and came face to face with the tree I always subconsciously associated with my dad. It was an old, thick, twisted oak with intricate and widespread top branches which stood out in sharp contrast with the deep blue sky. The tree was next to a whole line of beautiful oaks but it was slightly set apart and unique in form and character, just like my dad.

Some folks arrange plots and tombstones, endow chairs, purchase benches or plaques for public display as a way to mark and remember someone they’ve lost. For me this tree is the most fitting memorial. I see it as Pop taking his rightful place in the order of things. I look forward to riding by it for many years to come.

From a hand written note on a scrap of paper I found at the studio:

“Avoid the self-conscious and overly refined – be free of artistic pretentions.”

“Nature is an honest standard we can turn to. Her shapes are a gift. I change them with care.”

“Formal training is overrated. Good things happen when you learn from your mistakes. A little ignorance is often helpful.”

12/25/09 – Found another folder at the Studio with some short writings from the 70’s-80’s.

“The Good Life is engaging with people we love to make things that really count.”

Sculpture (1983)

” I make sculpture that pleases me – but it is on the assumption that there are other people who will have the same feeling about the forms.  I generally work fast and spontaneously on several pieces. If the uncritical flow isn’t there I put the piece aside and come back to it later.”

Bio notes (late 90’s):

“I have been sculpting in a variety of materials for the past 40  years – long enough that good things can happen if you learn from your mistakes.  My goal over the years has been to free myself of artistic pretensions  in order to share the reverence I feel for nature’s forms and textures. I’m convinced that nature is the only honest standard we can turn to.

When I’m able to avoid the self-conscious & over-defined and treat natural materials with wonder the result seems good. It’s clear that the uncarved stone or river washed root often cannot be improved by the artist.  Sometimes you can make the inherent beauty of nature’s sculptures more accessible to others.

It’s joyous work!”

From notes accompanying the Los Gatos Green Show (compiled by Emie Yamate)

“I make art to expel melancholy and vanity. If you want a beautiful life or a beautiful sculpture, make the moments beautiful.”

“By contemplating nature, we are constantly renewed. As I consider nature’s shapes, I find a gift. ”

“I want an intimate and honest relationship with the natural world; I want to treat natural materials honestly. As an artist, I want to communicated and share the reverence I feel for nature’s forms and textures. I feel nature expressing itself through me. I try to keep my treatment of the natural materials free of artistic pretension.”

“The process is the thing. I would rather work than write or talk.”

Some Haikus:

“Workmen’s boot prints in the mud
A glistening concrete slab
And this discarded Oak”

“Barbed wire and meadow
Fire,  torrent,  mud slide
And now a quiet place again”

“Twice Noble Oak!
The rainbow memories
Recorded in it’s heartwood”

Do you remember any Paul sayings? Add a comment.

Paul in action, working the wood (and a few of Rory and Shawn taking part).

Paul in action

and

The Carmel Highlands  house