Noel Wright's work joins that of other Isle of Hope artists for the annual show and sale.

Noel Wright's workshop sits under the eaves of the wide wrap-around porch that juts out from his circa 1850 home on Isle of Hope's Bluff Drive. A former banker, Wright now spends three to four hours a day leaning over his lathe, watching the wood spin and guiding his tools to create something magical from a piece of wood.

"When I'm working, I'm in another world, floating around," says Wright.

Retirement has given Wright the chance to change identities in a sense. Although he has always been a sportsman and loved the outdoors, Wright worked for 32 years in the decidedly indoors career of banking, at Great Southern Federal Savings Bank.

Now, Wright is a craftsman, who spends his days outdoors under the shelter of the eaves, steeped in nature, with his dog by his side.

Wright spent his childhood in this special home, and raised his own family here. It is a place filled with memories, and a place for new beginnings.

"Lathes were invented to eliminate the need for psychiatrists," he philosophizes.

Behind his lathe, a huge pile of wood blocks, with tree type and date found noted in permanent marker, serves as his "in-box." Blocks of pecan, black cherry, maple and magnolia, as well as hardwoods from South America and the West Coast, are piled high, ready to be turned into organic and tactile decorative objects.

Wright travels with a chainsaw, and often stops when he sees a felled tree on the side of the road. Friends call him when they cut down trees, and he also gets wood from developers when they clear-cut.

"Wood is not scarce," says Wright with a smile, "it grows on trees."

Wright's turned vessels are stunning - and manage to exhibit technical expertise while revealing the naturally occurring beauty of the materials.

It is the tree that you think of when you see his pieces, that tree that stood for hundreds of years that was home to birds, weathered storms and created shade. His wood art is a powerful union of nature and man.

His mastery over the process belies his humble woodturning beginnings.

He started his wood turning odyssey trying to turn cabinet knobs for a cabinet he had created out of recycled heart of pine floorboards from his house. The knobs are useful, but not much else. He watched a how-to video when he began, running from his TV to his crude tools, in order to perfect those knobs.

Creating the knobs catapulted him into a hobby that has become a happy obsession.

Frustrated with is first attempts, he registered in a weeklong course at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C. That was a turning point for Wright. He has attended the school one or two times a year since 1995, and now is an assistant instructor.

He has also studied at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tenn., where he studied with John Jordan, Mark Gardener and Gael Montgomery and is a founding member of the Lowcountry Woodturners, a group that meets monthly to discuss woodturning and present informative programs from guest speakers.

Wright continues to learn new skills, and continues to challenge himself with new techniques. As with any art form, there is always room for improvement, always more to learn.

"It is so enjoyable . . . If it wasn't so difficult, everybody would do it," says Wright, with a look on his face that tells all. He is a man who has found his calling, and his wood art is a gift that he and the trees give back to the world.