We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Don Tenniswood a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Don, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
I create to bring joy into my life and the lives of others.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Greetings. My name is Don Tenniswood. I am an artist residing on the west end of Manitoulin Island specializing in wood sculptures of all sizes, burl bowls and acrylic paintings. My past experience in construction and passion for nature and the materials it provides has led me to a fulfilling career as a professional artist. Attention to detail is why customers come to me for commission work as I thoroughly enjoy creative challenges. The work I do with burls is not done on a lathe but instead I let the natural shape of each one guide me to make a unique piece art. Wood sculptures range from fine art pieces that fit in your hands to ten foot tall flying eagles and eight foot tall female Predators. With my work in acrylic paint I strive for realism and enjoy working with colour and the challenges it presents. Here I specialize in portraying wildlife in their natural setting but I also have a darker aesthetic that is expressed with a separate and very different body of work.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Like most creatives, I was interested in and involved with art from childhood, And like many artists got too busy in adulthood to follow that path. When I was thirty five I saw an Indonesian Ritual mask and instantly knew I had to carve a version of it. My life changed in that moment. Upon completing that first piece I also realized that there was much more ability laying dormant than I expected. Shortly afterwards I decided to expand into painting. I spent years improving my skills, gaining experience and even competing, all in spare time after work. After moving to a very rural community and continuing to improve creatively my neighbour, who is an Ojibwa medicine man came over as I was touching and walking around a big log I had my friend with a tractor stand up on end for me. He asked if the log was talking to me, which indeed it was. Telling me what it wanted to be carved into. He said, “The wood doesn’t talk to everyone, Don”. That night in meditation I realized the message he gave me that I was ready and that was the time to transition to full time artist. As always, I followed his teaching.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
An online presence is of vital importance. Free advertising, huge audiences, easy to do. But for some of us who are a bit older and don’t possess the button pushing skills I would recommend doing what I do. Get your guitar player with superb tech skill to help with web sites, Facebook and Instagram accounts, their integration and how to manage them. But seriously, get help. Then learn a little bit at a time and spend a bit of time every day on it. I just want to carve and paint but these are crucial skills in today’s world if we wish to have some level of financial success as an artist. My next challenge is to edit videos into reels and if I can do it, so can you.
Contact Info:
- Website: Don Tenniswood Artist
- Instagram: Don Tenniswood
- Facebook: Don Tenniswood Artist