Born and raised in rural Eastern Washington, Dan John Anderson spent his formative years in Portland, Oregon where he studied at the Oregon College of Art & Craft. In 2007 he co-founded Von Tundra, a Portland based art and design collective. In 2012, on the heels of a well run course with Von Tundra and the Pacific Northwest, Anderson moved to Joshua Tree, California. After a few years of working in the studios of artists Andrea Zittel and Alma Allen he's now re-established his own creative endeavor making large-scale unique hand-made sculptures and functional objects.
At his High Desert studio, called the Wayway Space, Anderson creates unique large-scale hand-turned sculptures and domestic woodworks, and hosts performances and other community events.
From start to finish, Anderson’s process is downright primal and reminiscent of a master sculptor who transforms a shapeless block of material into a thing of beauty. First, the found wood comes in all forms depending on the intended outcome. Hardwoods like oak and olive reveal a character only seen as a result of the old growth process, whereas softwoods like pine and cedar tend to behave much differently.
