THANKS for doing that
A podcast CELEBRATING people and ideas that make this world a better place by exploring the things we do, the reasons we do them, and why IT MATTERS.
THANKS for doing that
Vince Black on Devastation Turned to Beauty
Did you know that sometimes life comes through devastation? This is true of the Sequoia pinecone and can also be seen in the troubles of life.
My guest for this conversation - Vince Black of Blackcone - shares his personal experience with finding beauty and life in the midst of devastation. After losing his oldest son to leukemia in 2022, Vince had to fight to learn that beauty can indeed come from what only feels like death and loss. Whereas lathe-turning started as an outlet for his grief, it has become a source of redemptive creativity.
Blackcone works primarily with wood that has been discarded or devastated by Colorado wildfires and beetle kill. Each piece is transformed into a striking and beautiful work of art. The wood is given new life and, in this, each piece is a marker of hope.
Blackcone website
Follow along on IG @blackconeworks
Catch more of the story @thanks.for.doing.that.podcast!
Hey, there you are listening to Thanks for Doing that a podcast celebrating people and ideas that make this world a better place. I am Heather Winchell, your host and chief enthusiast, and I'm on a mission to bring you conversations that encourage, inspire and delight. So stay tuned for another episode where we explore the things we do, the reasons we do them and why it matters.
Speaker 1:Today, I am joined by Vince Black, the artist behind the simple yet striking wooden decor of Black Cone. Every piece in his collection is sourced from local discarded wood, and he takes that wood, which is often damaged and devastated by the harsh realities of fire or infestation, and, through lathe turning, forms it into a unique creation with new life and purpose. And though, I have to say the art itself is interesting and beautiful, even more so is the story that it tells. So, vince, thank you so much for joining me, and I would love to kick off our conversation with a bit of a deeper dive into the vision of Black Cone and the work that you produce. So maybe we could just start with your name and your logo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, it started with a trip that our family took out to Sequoia National Park in 2018 or 19. I don't remember my memory is blurry with dates, but 18 or 19. And we read about some of the pine cones that had fallen, the huge pine cones that had fallen from some of these trees, and one of the plaques that we read said that for these pine cones specifically, and many others, but these specifically for the sequoia tree, the only way that they were able to release their seeds and thus producing more healthy trees was under the pressure of fire, forest fire, and so I thought that was fascinating kind of a picture of what we go through, that the devastation of what we go through, is what actually brings life to us, to things that we are navigating, and so long, long story we can get into however much of this you want to. So long, long story we can get into however much of this you want to. But as I began thinking about some of the things I was making wood I was turning and wood that I had gotten from a friend of mine who lived up Risk Canyon my wife and I were talking about. You know, if we keep doing this. If I keep making things, how will this go? We need a name for it. If I keep making things, how will this go? We need a name for it. And we sat over dinner one night and talked about that idea of the pine cone releasing seeds to produce something beautiful from the devastating effects of a forest fire and the beauty that could come from that. Our last name is Black, so that's the part of the black cone, but the idea of a burned pine cone that would release its seeds.
Speaker 2:The logo I had a friend design. He's here in Fort Collins. He's designed several logos. I loved the simplicity of many things that he had done before, several logos. I loved the simplicity of many things that he had done before, and so he designed this pine cone that is bursting forth, with five seeds that come out of it. My wife and I have five boys, and so each of those seeds represents a different sun that has come out of it, and really a large part of why I began turning wood was we lost a sun to leukemia. So one of those five seeds we lost to leukemia two years ago actually coming up September 29th, and I just needed an outlet, a creative outlet, to sort of allow my brain and heart to go and began turning wood in the process of that. So that's how. That's the whole story, the logo, all of that wrapped up into one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's when you started this hobby. You weren't doing it before that time.
Speaker 2:No, I had received a lathe from a friend, and a friend of mine said my dad's getting rid of all of his tools. He wants to know if anybody wants any of these things. Would you ever be interested in a lathe?
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I thought, well, you can't turn down a good tool. So I said, yes, and that was probably three years ago. And this lathe was old. I turned a couple things. I had no idea what I was doing. Thank God for YouTube. And this lathe was old. I turned a couple things. I had no idea what I was doing. Thank God for YouTube. I had no idea what I was doing, threw a couple pieces of wood across the garage from the lathe at several hundred RPMs, and it was because this lathe was old and not working properly, and so I. But it had intrigued me just enough to keep going. So I thought, well, I want to try to figure out how to get another lathe and make this happen. So I bought a small sort of beginner lathe and just started doing stuff. So that was before our son had died. After that I went to a shed I have in the backyard and began just spending hours and hours and hours back there as a way to sort of some therapy really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just think it's so cool how the creative process and creative outlets are so therapeutic and also productive, just rich in meaning. Yeah, so that's really cool. Do you still have the very first piece that you made?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a great question. I don't know. Here's my problem. It's a good problem. I suppose I love giving things away. It's a good problem, I suppose I love giving things away, and so I make things and I give them away, and so it's probably out there. I gave it to someone, I'm sure. I mean, my wife has a few things, but over time she's like I don't know if we have any more space for more. I love this piece, I love this piece, I love that one, but I don't know if we have any more space to put wood, wood things around our house, and so I'm sure someone has it.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah somewhere out there, I don't know who. Yeah, that would. That would be a fun thing to find. It's gotten. I will say it's gotten much better. The first thing I did compare, you know, I think the first thing I ever made was just a spindle like a, you know, just because I didn't know what I was doing and I thought, oh, I'll just keep working at this and carving. And then I think from there I thought, well, it kind of looks like a candlestick holder, I'll do a candlestick holder. And then the more I, the more I saw what could be done. I started watching YouTube videos on bowls and you know, bigger pitchers and vases and things like that, and I just thought, okay, here we go. So I had to buy more tools. I eventually got a different lathe, a bigger, more powerful lathe that I'm able to do bigger stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is really cool. I remember recently you kind of had a teaser on your Black Cone Instagram of like something new is coming and you showed kind of the before picture of these pieces of wood all kind of grouped together. And then, I don't know I think it was a few weeks later you posted that it was a cake stand and it was beautiful, so cool, and that was a gift, right.
Speaker 2:That was a gift to my mom. My parents grew up in central Illinois. My dad grew up on a farm that has been in the Black family for a long time since the Blacks came to America and so this wood that they brought back. They went to Illinois this last year and they brought back a wooden beam from the barn that was on this property and my mom gave it to me and said sometime I'd love for you to make something out of this. So it was her birthday a couple weeks ago and I made a cake stand and we put her birthday cake on it.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so cool.
Speaker 2:I love.
Speaker 1:How meaningful that is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so something that was. I mean, this is the whole point of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so something that was, I mean, pretty excited about things, but it's like my joy is complete when I can share them. So I think there's something resonant in the feeling like you want to just give away the things you make. It's like in the sharing there's the deepest joy. So you know, some of the most striking pieces in your collection are those that show their scars. I've seen you have a beetle kill pine plate I think that was from last year or you recently showed a ponderosa pine bowl and these scars tell a story and I'd love to hear from your perspective on watching that story unfold as you are forming them.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's an interesting way to look at it and I do see it. I mean a lot of these pieces. I start with a log, and many of the logs I have do have burn scar on them, and many of those burn down trees from Risk Canyon. We have a friend who lives in Risk Canyon and their property had some burn from the fire in 2012. So I've gotten a lot of wood from him and there's burn on it. One of the reasons it's burned and went through that devastation was because it had already had damage from the beetle kill that had come through, and so you get both of them.
Speaker 2:So I start with a log that's got some burn on it and I don't really know what I'm going to get until I get into it. So you start turning it and carving things away from it and you begin to see either holes that are bored through it or there's some bluing that comes to the wood. It turns a blue color from the fungus that comes from the beetles that have eaten through it the fungus that comes from the beetles that have eaten through it, and so the beetle kill pine has this bluing or graying tent to it that you can see from that. But you don't know what that's going to be until you get in it, and so I try as much as I'm able to leave some of the bark that's been burned on it, just so that's visible. And then you start to see the bluing as it comes out in the carving, but you don't know where that's going to be until you get in.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So that brings up a couple of questions. The first is does it make it difficult to work around? Do you ever find it difficult to see something you'd love to preserve, but it kind of makes it more difficult to work around, or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Often I'm trying to keep some of the bark on, because that's where you see some of that. You see some of the burn, some of the scarring there and I try to keep that on. But when it's spinning at you know 1500 RPM, if you hit it just right with a tool, the bark will fly off.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or it's, you know, it's barely hanging on and I don't want to, you know, give or sell a piece to someone and things fall off of it. So yeah, it does make it challenging. But yeah, it does make it challenging. I've worked with some aspen that has been in some of these areas that have come down and the bark will fly off the aspen pretty quickly.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it just depends on the wood. What have you found to be the most frustrating element of creating in this space?
Speaker 2:oh, that's um, I, I think, um, I think I have in mind uh, how, who would I give this to? You know, as I'm making, or would this go? And uh, I get to the end of it and I think I'm not sure. It's probably it's probably me that that is the most frustrating part. I mean it's self that I think I don't know if they'll like this, or maybe I shouldn't give this away, or this won't go anywhere, this won't sell, and so the frustrating piece is probably just me and my own desire to give something or sell something that people would like.
Speaker 2:Time is another frustrating piece. I mean I can lose myself in my shed. I've gone out before in the morning and my wife will come out and say, do you plan to come in for dinner? So I mean I just get lost in time and I have another job. This is not my full-time gig. I have a full-time job and we have lots of kids, and so the time, I think, is a piece of it. I get lost in the creativity. It takes time to get to that place. I don't have a lot of time, so I have to try to figure some of that out. It can eat into creative spaces, but I also don't want to spend all of my time in those creative spaces, because I have people I want to be with too.
Speaker 1:So man isn't that a tough thing about creating is just managing and stewarding all the things well, but finding enough time to really get into the mode of creating, yeah, I can resonate with that. What about the most rewarding? What has been the most rewarding aspect of this element of creating?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I had a photography professor in college who said she would call these some of the photos that we were doing. And this is in the time of, like, actual printing out photos, developing, developing film and having that print. She would call it a happy accident. You didn't know getting, and when it's being developed, as you see it in the solution, it starts to present itself and it's a happy accident. Some of the most rewarding is just seeing what's underneath. I mean, it's the happy accident of like, oh, wow, this is the wood grain in. This is something I was not expecting and it's beautiful. And I thought it was a log that I was like, oh, we'll see what happens with this, but it's beautiful underneath. And so some of the most rewarding is not the things that I'm doing, but the things that are present in the piece that I'm working on, that, that that God put there Very cool.
Speaker 1:So you know, I know you mentioned that you have a full-time role and I know that that is the role of a pastor in our greater community, and I'm wondering if this hobby or artistic expression has given new insight into the way you approach that role or, conversely, how have you seen your lens as a pastor shape your art?
Speaker 2:That's a. I think it would be that last part. I think I wouldn't. But I wouldn't say it's the role as a pastor. I would probably say it's my role as a Christian and I have.
Speaker 2:My undergraduate degree is in sculpture and I studied classical sculpture so the human form for four years under one professor. I was kind of an apprentice under him and he really shaped a lot of my thinking in art and creativity in the life of a Christian and just communicated over and over and over that Christians ought to be. Whether you believe this or not, or agree with this or not, christians ought to be the most creative because we know the creator, from our worldview, we know the creator, and so therefore, knowing the creator, we ought to mirror him, be like him in our creativity. And so I think, as I think, about my role as a Christian. Yes, I'm a pastor, but my role as a Christian.
Speaker 2:I look at the way in which I get to create as a reflection of God. Every time I walk back to my shed it's at the back part of our yard. I walk back to my shed. I spend that walk praying. God, show me you today. I want this to come out well and I want to see you in this, and so I think it's that that has been the perspective, not necessarily the pastoral work I'm dodging your question maybe but not necessarily the pastoral work, but the life of being a Christian.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. I don't feel like you're dodging it at all and it strikes me that, just given the specific emphasis and the specific way you are creating, it's one of the deepest manifestations of God on display right Taking something that's dead and giving it new life, taking something that has been devastated and seeing the beauty that can come from that. I think that that's definitely a very core to the Christian belief in the person of Jesus and what he has accomplished through death, bringing life right. So that's a really beautiful reflection on the specific work that you do and the way that you do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that came from, I mean the whole idea back to the logo and the name and all of that.
Speaker 2:It came, you know, as my son was in the hospital.
Speaker 2:He was doing some art, just drawing and different things, and he drew this skull that was upside down, and coming out of the skull were these flowers, these beautiful. And he was, and he was just kind of, I think, in a way, processing his own grief of being in the hospital, his senior year of high school and what that was for him, and he just said there's this life coming from death in this. And so I think, as we've thought about this whole process of grieving and how that's come up, there are some beautiful things that have come from some really hard, hard things in our life and we want to continue to see those things happen, and so that just that permeates so much of what we do, especially this, I mean the woodworking stuff that I'm doing. I get to see those things happen and so that just that permeates so much of what we do, especially this, I mean the, the woodworking stuff that I'm doing. We I get to see the life coming from something that's dead, discarded, has been destroyed. Some, some beauty come from that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think what's really meaningful Vince reality like no, this is loss, this is devastation, and that matters. And that's not the full story and there is also hope and beauty in life, and so I think that that's an important thing to call out. Just in contrast to, you know, sometimes, where there's just a lot of bright siding or trying to put a pretty bow on something, can feel inauthentic. Some people are like you know, you're just trying to find a way to make this better, but actually no, the deepest story that we believe, that we take part in in the person of Jesus, is no, really like there's hope that can come from devastation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, as I, as I think about all of these things, we wouldn't have chosen clearly I mean, this is a no brainer we would not have chosen for our son to go through what he went through and for the loss for that to be there. We would not have. Likewise, we would not have chosen for a fire to rip through a canyon and bring destruction on a canyon and all of the beautiful trees that were there. Those things are not wasted.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And while we wouldn't have chosen them, there's a bigger plan and all of this, and that doesn't mean that well, therefore, there's a smile on everything that's a there's a bigger plan and all of this and that doesn't mean that well, therefore, there's a smile on everything.
Speaker 2:That's a happy spin to everything, no, but there is beauty there. We may not know what that beauty um will be in in this life, we don't, we may not see that now, but there is beauty there, I that's again the beautiful part of the pine cone that it takes something like that for them to be life that is revealed in it. And so that's been a part of our process, of this journey and my process as a creator as well, trying to think through how this brings beauty to something that most people would look at and say look at the devastation of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And if I'm not mistaken, your wife is also a bit of a creator, but more with words, correct? She's a writer.
Speaker 2:She is a writer.
Speaker 1:I'm curious, you know, just as you mentioned that pine cone have you ever had the opportunity to work with sequoia wood? Is that even allowed? Are people allowed to take Sequoia wood?
Speaker 2:No, it's a protected. It's a protected wood. They sell saplings at Sequoia National Park, and so we bought one and brought it home several years ago and planted it and it did as well as you would think it would do. Okay, yeah, they're not. They're higher elevation trees.
Speaker 1:It didn't, didn't make it but we try, yeah, good try, good try. Well, vince, thank you. This has been, yeah, a really meaningful conversation for me, and I appreciate your willingness to speak to the experiences that you have had in your personal life and then also how that has shaped your art. I like to end my episodes with a few fun questions, so I have a few for you.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:So, vince, if you could have a theme song every time you enter a room today, what would that be and why?
Speaker 2:Oh, let's see. Let me think about this. I am a big fan of um willie nelson okay, cool um, and so I think, uh, the song on the road again for a couple of reasons.
Speaker 2:Um, if I enter a room and there are a lot of people, I would probably mingle about for a little bit, but then want to be on the road again. I'm not much of a big crowd person, and so I'd want to keep moving. And the line is, I just can't wait to be on the road again. I love travel, I love getting out. I am often discontent in my current situation and would rather move on to something else. God's growing me in that, but that would be the theme song on the road again.
Speaker 1:Okay, I like it. I like it a lot. What is your favorite way to spend a morning to yourself?
Speaker 2:Oh, what's that? I don't know what. That even is a morning to myself. That even is a morning to myself. I would. I am an early person and the earlier I can get up the better. I love it. I love the darkness of the morning and watching it slowly come to light. So I would probably I'd make coffee. I have a whole ritual of making coffee. It's a process and I would do that and probably sit out on my back patio and watch things get light. I'd sit and read, sit and write, and then I'd probably go on a trail run and after a trail run I'd come back and go to my shed.
Speaker 1:Man, vince, you had me because I'm also a morning person, that earlier the better, like I don't get mad if I wake up at four, 30 or four, 45, cause I think that's more time as long as there's coffee. If there's not, I'm mad. But um, but you had me all the way until the trail run. I'm trying to enjoy running, but not quite yet. So, yeah, that sounds lovely, though. Um, okay, if you were going to design a coffee drink after your best friend, what would you call it and what would be in it?
Speaker 2:call it? She is a medicinal coffee drinker. She drinks coffee, but she drinks it for the caffeine. So, um, she and she's not ashamed of that uh, she, I think, would like to say that she's a coffee connoisseur. Um, and she drinks black coffee, but it's mostly for the caffeine that she gets from it. So what would I call it? I don't know, something that has to do with fake, fake something. I don't know what I would call it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be thinking on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, so the last question I have for you is you know, I would just really love to invite you to give your own shout out. Who would you want to tell thanks for doing that, and why?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's fun. You know, there's a gal who I know who has started recently here just outside of Fort Collins. She's just started her own small like flower farm and so cut flowers that she sells the tethered bloom is what it's is what it's called cool and um, so she has flowers. They live outside of fort collins a bit and they have some land and her husband's built greenhouses and so she starts this whole process early in the year and has these arrangements she sells and they're beautiful. She's purchased a couple of vases. We've talked about somehow trying to figure out a collaboration where we can do that together, but yeah, and she's used that process as a way to bring some healing in her own life as well. So I love her, the thought behind it and what she's doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is very cool. I think actually I already follow her on Instagram. Maybe I found it through Black Cone, I'm not sure, but that's very cool. I didn't know exactly what that was.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, vince, the way I like to end my show is by presenting you with a haiku that I've written just as an expression of my gratitude and also to highlight why I wanted to have you on my show, so I would love to read that for you now. Okay, all right, thanks for doing that. Reclaiming the discard pile and crafting beauty.
Speaker 2:It's good. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:You are so welcome and thank you so much for joining and have a wonderful day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1:Thanks for Doing that. Is presented to you by the Epiary a place for beholding and becoming. Is presented to you by the Epiary a place for beholding and becoming, and. Thank you for joining us for today's episode. Before you go, I have a couple of invitations. If you found it meaningful, could I invite you to take two minutes to rate and review the show. I also invite you to help me create an upcoming episode of Thanks for Doing that by nominating someone or suggesting a topic. Let's link arms to call out the good and the beautiful that we see around us, Because I really believe that finding delight in our divided and difficult world could make all the difference. Bye.