Mark Levin

My sculpture and furniture are rooted in the fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and flower gardens of my youth. Pruning, raking, picking fruit, and helping my mother plant her vegetable and flower gardens, were part of the seemingly endless chores of my youth. It wasn’t that nature inspired me, but rather that nature was an integral part of my life. It was only natural that my work evolved from those small wonders in the orchard and gardens.

When I left for art school, I swore I’d never eat another piece of fruit, let alone walk through the grocery store produce section. But as I created work at art school, I gained a new respect for all the chores my parents gave me over the years and eventually got over the fact that my three sisters never had to so much as pick up a rake or pick one lousy apple.

I had no deep desire to be an artist; I just liked making things, but my work drove me down a one-way, circuitous, bumpy path to the art world. When I saw Wendell Castle’s Douglas Baker dining table, which flowed downward from the ceiling wall, it was a “come to Jesus moment” for this Jewish kid from Chicago. I ended up studying under Bobby Falwell, a graduate student of Wendell’s, and began my conversion to artist.