Nearly four decades into his career as a carpenter and cabinetmaker in Los Angeles, Terry Holzgreen was burning the candle at both ends. He was managing his full-time business and providing care for his widowed father-in-law, his mother, and an ill brother. Holzgreen was near the breaking point when a cabinet job barely covered the cost of materials. A close call with a band saw was the final straw, and he stopped taking on work for hire. But Holzgreen continued working with wood, following his own creative instincts.

Using scraps he’d accumulated from a long career making things to spec for architects and homeowners, he started assembling new objects of his one piece own design. “Literally and figuratively, I have pieced together this body of work,” he says. “But I also pieced together a new identity and ultimately am realizing my lifelong creative ambitions.”

In his second career as an artist, Holzgreen has found both fulfillment and success. “I have been preparing the way for this moment by developing and acquiring the skills, tools, and materials in my decades as a carpenter and shop for hire,” he says. “I have been searching for my creative and artistic voice for a long, long time.” And at 64 years young, Holzgreen believes he’s finally found it.