Art of the Adze: Bowl Hewing in Indiana

Abstract

Hewing wooden bowls is widely considered one of the oldest crafts. For thousands of years, makers have carved useful basins and trays out of wooden slabs. In Indiana bowl hewers use an adze, a hatchet-like tool with the blade turned sideways, to shape and hollow their bowls. While the craft nearly vanished in the early 20th Century in the United States, it enjoyed a revival in Indiana when Bill Day started hewing artfully rustic bowls out of cherry, poplar, and sassafras in Warren County. The distinctive aesthetic forms Bill Day and his students created are noticeably different from the Scandinavian and Appalachian bowl carving traditions sometimes featured in museum exhibitions. This exhibition and catalogue highlights Indiana's distinctive tradition of hewing wooden bowl.