The ten featured sculptures in this lavishly illustrated book highlight sculptor Mel Kendrick's recent work, 1995-2001, revealing his long-standing preoccupation with process and his unerring sense of sculptural form. With systematic logic and a keen sense of his materials, Kendrick has created this new series he calls "core samples": wood sculptures that respond to the form, exterior textures, and growth patterns of the trees from which they originate. Katherine W. Hart's skillful essay on these works and Kendrick's remarkable career, and Elyse Goldberg's engaging February 2001 interview with the artist, offer the reader extraordinary insights into the work of this notable American artist. Contemporary New York sculptor Mel Kendrick's artistic career spans thirty years. His work is represented in many public collections across the United States, including those of The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.