UWA exhibit features Hubbard’s woodturning art

Bill Hubbard has spent his lifetime gaining an understanding, protecting, and preserving natural resources. His life’s work has been in the field of geology as a scientist in oil and gas exploration.

More than 20 years ago, he began practicing the craft of woodturning and has built a collection of sculptures ranging in size from hand-held ornaments to three-foot home centerpieces.

He will share his collection with the community through an exhibit hosted by the University of West Alabama in Webb Hall Gallery, beginning Feb. 20. An opening reception will be held at 2 p.m., and the public is invited to attend.

Fascinated by elegant wooden pens at a craft show, Hubbard’s interest led to the purchase of his first lathe, a machine that spins wood on an axis to allow the craftsman to create symmetrical designs as it turns rapidly.

The pieces in his exhibit range in size, shape, style and material. Hubbard says he especially enjoys working with the burls on a tree, those rounded knotty growths that appear to be deformations.

Among his many works of art are a hollowed-out vessel from an Australian Jarah burl, a platter from a Mesquite burl that he has inlaid with turquoise and a vessel made from a Katalox burl with a turned ebony finial.

A turkey hunter brought to him a 300-pound burl from a Water Oak in Epes that he turned into a centerpiece of his home, a museum in its own right.

Hubbard suggests that once a person develops a passion for creating art with wood, he finds himself with endless opportunities, especially when living three miles down a clay and rock road into the deep woods surrounding the picturesque Cahaba River. 

As a young boy in Birmingham, Hubbard loved nature. He took trips with his family to visit relatives living in Bibb County by the Cahaba River. So began his fascination with the beautiful Cahaba and its reputation for biodiversity.

At the University of Alabama, he majored in geology. He then enjoyed 40 years in oil and gas exploration as a scientist involved in buying companies, improving them and reselling them.

While his profession was exciting, fun, challenging and rewarding, after his initial retirement, he was asked to be vice president of explorations for a new company, Spinnaker Explorations. He interpreted 3-D seismic data and discovered significant oil strikes in the Gulf of Mexico.

Yet, all his work was indoors at a computer and the outdoors beckoned him.

Retiring a second time, Hubbard asked his cousin, a forester, to help him find property along the Cahaba River where he could continue the thrill of exploration. This time it would be an exploration of rare flora, fauna and the river, as well as a quiet place to develop his craft.

Hubbard has made an invaluable donation of this treasured property spanning more than 2,000 acres for the establishment of UWA’s Cahaba Biodiversity Center. It will serve as an outdoor classroom and routine field trip destination for UWA students.

The University will also coordinate and manage the facility for research, creating a world-class opportunity to study in one of the most diverse ecosystems in the country.