Alan Bishop – Woodworker
Alan Bishop is a woodworker and a retired professional engineer, living the dream in the Clarence Valley. He grew up on a farm in Western Victoria and learned the joy of making with tools from an early age. He has been a maker of one thing or another for most of his life.
In the early years of marriage, he and his wife Su had to make do, so he did their house renovations and he made basic furniture from hardware store pine, chipboard, and recycled materials. The usual distractions of career and family kept him away
from woodworking until the children had left the nest and he and Su moved to Exmouth. Given time and better
tools, he began to explore woodworking further, mostly building furniture. When he and Su moved to Brisbane, he had access to better equipment and better materials, and his woodworking developed further. After retirement, Alan and Su moved to the Clarence Valley. He joined up with the Clarence Valley Woodworkers Association, where he met likeminded makers. It was through the CVWA that he took part in a workshop with sculptor and wood carver Karl Rubli – this fired up a long dormant interest in sculpture. Alan sees woodworking as a rigorous and logical process using a variable material to make objects with characteristics that are undefinable. He makes furniture, boxes, and sculptural objects. He frequently collaborates with his wife, glass artist Su Bishop. Mid-century Modern and Japanese styles are a strong influence. His furniture designs favour clean functional lines, tactile surfaces, visually light structures and minimal embellishment. His sculptured work is mostly about the abstract form, often referencing his love of mathematics with geometric and Mobius forms, and often driven by curiosity – every new piece is a learning experience. He wants his sculptured forms to be tactile and intriguing. He often uses salvaged or recycled timber – Jacaranda, Camphor Laurel and Mango can be very attractive timbers that work well. Timber is a natural material and therefore variable and imperfect. Part of the challenge is to work with or around timber’s natural variation. How hard can it be?

Exhibitions and Awards
2025 ‘No Boundaries’ Dorrigo Rainforest Centre, Dorrigo NSW
2023 ‘Maker of the Year’, Australian Wood Review Magazine – Arts and Objects, Runner Up
2023 ‘Small Sculpture Prize’, The Art Space, Urunga – Finalist
2021‘Out of the Forest’, Coldstream Gallery, Ulmarra