Oak Carvings by Richard Taylor

CARVED OAK -
THE ‘GREEN MAN’ AND A SENSE OF CONNECTION.

An image regularly commissioned is that of ‘The Green Man’ who’s curious foliated carved face peers down from the corbels and bosses of a great many ancient churches throughout Northern Europe.

Richard Taylor has taken the figure out of the cloisters and placed him in a garden setting.

Although there are a great many theories in circulation, the meaning of the Green Man is essentially a mystery. At the most basic level he seems to have been entrusted with a role as intermediary between mankind and the productive power of nature especially with regard to the world of vegetation.

Perhaps the source of a growing awareness and fascination with the figure lies primarily in his very mysteriousness

Richard Taylor’s carved oak Green Man nesting boxes are designed to be set amidst foliage high on a wall or in tree, where birds will be encouraged to nest.

If the Green Man has a role in modern society it is possibly that he reflects a residual sense of connection between the complex creatures we have become and a perceived more ‘natural’ state from which we sense we have become detached.

Clients are keen that their carved Green Man should have a face. He is not a mask.

Without exception he is to be benign, sometimes enigmatic, sometimes wry, jocular, sometimes stern and direct but never threatening - very much the qualities one would admire in a close and trusted friend.

The Green Man. The pieces featured on this page all function in the garden as nesting boxes