Nick Agar (UK) burr elm bowl 7x33cm. SignedHaving recently spent some time with Ray in his workshop It felt a little strange to be workingon a pice he had roughed out to finish himself .On reviving the roughed out Burr Oak bowl blank and studying its form it was obvious that Ray had left a wonderful shape to the outside of the bowl and unusually for Oak it had hardly warped at all so I decided to do the opposite of what folks may think I would have done to finish this piece .I felt that I could collaborate both Ray and myself in the finished piece so as Ray would often say kept it simple .I simply burnished the surface on the underside of the bowl leaving Rays delicate tooling marks visible and put my own shape on the inside with an undercut rim .Resulting in a functional piece with the lightest of textures that Ray would have appreciated .Although in my mind I can hear him saying“ you see Nick if it looks good don’t mess with it any more “ Mother Nature has done the art for us already on this piece of wood .”Such a true statement .It was an honour to do this piece in Rays memory .The Ray Key Collaboration Auction