Dennis Elliot

Some people are born with more talent than seems fair to the rest of us. I think Dennis Elliott is one of those people.

Dennis became a professional musician at the age of 16 as the drummer for the British jazz-rock band IF. In 1976, Dennis became one of the founding members of the rock band Foreigner. From 1976 to 1991, when Dennis left the band, Foreigner recorded six multi-platinum selling albums. While still with the band, Elliott's wife Iona gave him a Black & Decker lathe attachment for his power drill and that started it all. He needed to get his mind off the anxiety of performance. But turning took over.

"In creating music, you're creating out of thin air. There's no material that you're working with when you begin," says Elliott. "When you're working with a solid object like a piece of a tree, you can only do it once. The responsibility is therefore greater than creating a new song which can be wiped out and started again."

Eventually Dennis gained recognition as a wood turner and his work is in several public collection, including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Museum of Arts & Design (formerly the American Craft Museum).

Platinum records and your art in the Smithsonian...it's just not fair to the rest of us, Dennis!

See more of Dennis' work here.