Wood carver Don Jensen doesn’t know sewing, but he knows how to
make a fine quilt in his woodshop.
Morgan Hill – Wood carver Don Jensen doesn’t know sewing, but he knows how to make a fine quilt in his woodshop.
Rather than using needles, threads and fabrics, he links together five-inch tiles of maple, walnut and zebra wood with metal rings. The end result shows the silhouette of a fruit tree.
“It represents our valley and our agricultural past,” Jensen, 50, explained. “A quilt maker tells a story, and that’s what I’m doing. But I don’t sew so good. My material is wood.”
For years Jensen has turned heads in Morgan Hill for his woodworking skills. Now he’s found permanent home for two of his pieces – including the wood quilt – at the new $19-million Morgan Hill Library opening July 21.
“I’m absolutely in awe of the people in the community who’ve worked so hard to not only get art to hang in the new library, but to commission local original art,” Jensen said.
The Friends of the Morgan Hill Library, a grassroots community group, has raised $182,000 to purchase art and supplies for the library. The group purchased Jensen’s wood quilt recently for $2,500.
Additionally, the Morgan Hill Rotary Club has commissioned Jensen to carve a decorative bench for the 28,000-square-foot library’s entryway, paying him $2,400.
Jensen calls himself a “wood alchemist,” turning ordinary objects into treasures. His specialties include furniture, carvings, bowls, wine toppers, pepper grinders and kitchen utensils. He works out of a small woodshop behind his 1904 downtown Morgan Hill home.
Jensen’s love of woodworking began 37 years ago. He was an “Army brat,” he said, moving all over the world with his family. While living at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, he fell in love with the facility’s woodshop while trying to earn a woodworking merit badge for the Boy Scouts.
About 25 years ago, Jensen moved to Morgan Hill after earning a degree in landscape architecture from Santa Clara University. He runs his own landscape design business out of his home and uses his woodworking hobby for additional income. His pieces fetch between $10 and $10,000.
“I make my living as a landscape architect,” said Jensen, who’s married and has children in college. “The money I make from woodworking just covers the costs of the shop.”
Jensen’s woodworking skills have earned him honors in the past as Gallery Morgan Hill’s featured artist of the month. The wood quilt that will hang in the library also hung in the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center after it opened in 2002.
In addition to Jensen’s work, the Friends of the Morgan Hill Library has commissioned sculptures and paintings by other local artists and has purchased multi-media equipment, a children’s puppet state and other enriching elements.
