The Emily Monk Davidson Gallery at the Farmville Community Arts Council proudly presents this season's first group exhibit, Reflections In Wood. For the first time, the gallery will be filled with locally made works by prolific wood carver Leo Trujillo and nine of his students. The exhibition features intricately detailed relief carvings that reflect Trujillo’s deep reverence for nature, memory, and spiritual tradition, each piece revealing the artist’s perspective that wood can be both medium and storyteller.

A self-taught carver who began his journey in the early ‘80s, Trujillo has always been drawn to “creating the illusion of 3D, especially if it was nature or a reflection of something in [his] past.” Over time, this impulse evolved into a mastery of high and low relief carving — a discipline he describes as both a technical and emotional process, where “sometimes it emerges because of what the wood is telling you to do.”

Now, as both a master woodcarver and dedicated teacher, Trujillo shares this passion with others, guiding new carvers as they explore the boundless possibilities of shaping wood into something meaningful and extraordinary. His philosophy is as much about patience and discovery as it is about technique: “It’s only a piece of wood. It only becomes a masterpiece when you are done with it. If you mess up, get another piece of wood.” His encouragement and expertise have inspired a growing community of artists — nine of whom join him in this exhibit.

Together, their work spans a wide range of subject matter, form, and function. From finely rendered nature studies and rustic landscapes to personal reflections and practical objects, each piece reveals the individuality of the carver while honoring the shared medium. Under Trujillo’s guidance, these artists have learned not only to carve but to listen: to the grain, to the light, and to the quiet possibilities within the wood itself.

Trujillo’s own inspiration spans the rugged beauty of Colorado’s aspen groves, the rustic charm of Texas ranchlands, and the sacred imagery of Orthodox Iconography, a tradition he embraced during the pandemic when commissioned to carve a religious icon for a local chapel. “While the style was not foreign to me, it was very different from what I had been carving,” he recalls. Yet within six months, he had adapted the complex aesthetic of Orthodox painting into sculptural form, solidifying his reputation as both a master carver and iconographer in wood.
True to his purist approach, Trujillo carves from a single piece of hardwood, relying only on oils to protect the wood’s natural surface and grain. He resists modern shortcuts, insisting that “using a router…changes the wood left behind…you lose the sense and feel of the wood that you need.” For him, carving is an immersive process that cannot be measured by hours alone: “If you think of all the years that went into learning the techniques…can you really put time as a measure?”

In Reflections In Wood, visitors will encounter works that “fool the mind of the onlooker into what they want to see, compared to what they actually see,” as Trujillo and his students explore light, shadow, illusion, and the soul of the material with extraordinary care. Each work invites you to pause and look closely, not just at the wood, but through it, into the stories it was shaped to tell.