Dan Webb

Yespalier

Dates (January 8 - February 21, 2026)

Opening Reception: “First Thursday,” January 8, 6-8pm
Artist talk: “Saturday After,” January 10 at noon

Greg Kucera Gallery is excited to announce our fifth exhibition by Seattle artist, Dan Webb. The title for the exhibition, Yespalier, is a portmanteau of the English affirmative response, Yes, and Espalier, the French term for training a fruit tree to grow flat against a wall through the use of a lattice or frame-like structure. Each work in the exhibition begins with a frame on the wall on which the artist then trains his carved wood imagery into a two dimensional format.

YESPELIER, 2025, Carved Alaskan Yellow Cedar, Madrone, 37 x 35 x 4 inches

“Most of what I make are of the unruly, three dimensional variety, and over time, those objects have became bigger, heavier, and more complex. This is my attempt to reverse that trend and simplify them. Simplicity is where everything begins after all. Usually for me that means a quick and rough drawing done with a pen on whatever piece of paper is handy. What I’ve noticed is that thumbing through these drawings is like looking at stop motion animation stills, where the imagery repeats, but keeps changing. It’s hands, flowers, letters, chains, rough next to polished, hard edges next to organic shapes, all heading towards some kind of over arching narrative, but never quite getting there.

“I wanted this show to capture some of that feeling, while still remaining sculptural. So the starting point for the show was to make a defined space first, like a blank page in a notebook, and it occurred to me that an espalier seemed like a logical choice.”

–Dan Webb

&, 2025, stained glass, LED lights, fir frame, 42 x 33 x 3.25 inches

In addition to the carved wood for which the artist is known, the exhibition will include a couple of text works incorporating stained glass. & (at left) builds on the yeses in the show forming the popular improvisation mantra.

“They are a prompt towards the next thing. In my mind I was saying ‘Yes &...’ as if the presence of the ampersand following the yes would be enough of a pause that the outcome might be more intentional, or less reliant on good fortune. But who knows?”

–Dan Webb

Work in exhibition