The tools of a woodworker and artist make sense to Dave Lacey. They let him express himself and he likes the idea that they help him strive for structure and stability, he said.

Lacey, who lives in a modest West Seattle home works with both wood and stone to create very functional art, from unusual shelving, to stone walks and walls, to unique wooden bridges. His backyard is an ongoing project and home to his raw materials, as well as his three chickens. His process is as natural as his materials.

Lacey was born in Las Vegas and left at the age of 19 to "find himself."

"Nine out of 11 people at the cafe I hung out at said 'Go to Seattle,' so, I came up here with 200 bucks and did a lot of temp jobs," said Lacey.

At one point Lacey actually moved out to the woods and built some platforms among the trees on a friend's land. The experiment didn't last very long. He came out one morning after hearing some noise nearby.

"I stood up with a cup of coffee, thinking it was my buddy and AH! There he was," a local bear. "The bear stood up and I realized I was right on a berry run." The experience "broke the myth of my fantastical thinking. It was necessary to kind of get me grounded."

He got started in his craft by "salvaging branches" when he was working at Earth Corps, an organization whose mission is to "build global community through local environmental service." He put them on his fence for the birds and eventually added stone and made it more elaborate.

Lacey said about his work:

"I like the structure, I like the building and the permanence of it. I feel in my own personal life I've had a lot of striving towards structure and stability. When I'm building a stone wall I think about that every day and every time Taking each piece and each element putting it together into something that's permanent and it's really appealing to me and through that I end up with some really beautiful work."

You can reach Dave through his email address: Davesperch@yahoo.com