Yulgilbar Wood Gallery

Yulgilbar Wood Gallery is situated 10 minutes south of the township of Naracoorte, in South Australia's South-Eastern region. The South-East is known for its limestone caves, superb wetlands, birdlife and world class wineries. David and Sandra Williamson set up their gallery in 1990, directly opposite the exit road from the famous World Heritage listed Naracoorte Caves (listed for the rich fossil deposits).

David creates aged River Red Gum tables, bowls, and fine woodcraft, which have been brought to life in local timbers such as Casuarinas, Sheoke & Buloke and Eucalypts, Bluegum, Hillgum and Mallee. He has been working with wood for ten years, and his philosophy is to utilise the timbers which were being piled up, burnt and consequently lost forever. He aims to create a piece that someone will want to have and treasure for years to come.

Other artists supplying Yulgilbar are: Brian Clark, Tony Stevenson, and Chris Hortop.

David is currently expanding his gallery space to accommodate a larger display and more work from associated local artists working in wood and occasionally, other mediums.

David uses red gum from trees that were ring barked decades ago when settlers in the region tended to remove much of the native timbers and scrub to make way for grazing and cropping pastures. The trees have been dead for 70-80 years, but the timber is still sound and is in growing demand from tourists to Australia.

Local "woodies" are having fun turning up interesting articles from old fence posts (some up to 100 years old), which still have the holes through which the wire strands passed. Much of this timber has amazing fiddleback grain, which with its high red colour contrasting with natural bark edges or burn scars from bushfires, make these pieces an excellent choice for collectors of unusual and artistic woodwork.

The gallery is open seven days a week, public holidays and school holidays. Entry is free.

Gallery Prices are reasonable for a range of bowls and vases in a wide variety of local timbers. Bar tops, mantelpieces with natural edges, can be ordered and made to specific sizes. Price is dependent on size - these pieces are only available in red gum. The gallery houses a range of utilitarian ware in the form of solid and well finished red gum cutting boards of varying sizes. Works created are as individual as the piece of timber from which they are derived, and no two creations are identical. Variations of items are possible, depending on the size of available timber.

The length of time needed to complete commissioned works, varies from one month to about 3 months, depending on the size and nature of the work. "One-off" arbortech sculptural pieces range in price depending on the degree of difficulty.

Click on the emus for more information about the beautiful region of Naracoorte.

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