August 2007
John Bryan unveils Texas Streamsideat the Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors Show

TEXAS STREAMSIDE by John Bryan. Hearth panel. 21" x 36" x 2". Cherry. 2007

Rockland, Maine: Texas Streamside made its public debut as a work in progress during the 2007 Maine Boats Homes and Harbors Show. Artist John Bryan designed this hearth relief in cherry for a family from Austin, Texas who were building a second home in the North Carolina mountains. The panel fitted into a recess left in the stone facade over the mantel shelf in the living room. The family loved to fly fish in North Carolina and acknowledged a probable retirement there one day. Self-described as 'hard-core Texans and never letting it go', the couple wanted to weave that statement in this very personalized work to let their allegiances be known forevermore.

Bryan strives for great results like this in all his work, but acknowledges there is something extra special in creating a woodcarving so intertwined with the lives of the people who will live with it for generations.