Art Exhibition: Tooth and Chisel, An Exploration in Wood

Jubal Prevatte

20 June – 20 July

Monday to Sunday 10am-4pm in the Knepp Wilding Shop

This June, Knepp welcomes Tooth and Chisel: An Exploration in Wood – a new exhibition by Sussex-based woodturner Jubal Prevatte created in response to Knepp’s beavers and the wild landscape they create. Running as part of Sussex Craft Week from (20 June – 2 July 2026), the exhibition explores the surprising parallels between human craft and the instinctive ways these animals shape their natural world.

The work began with a visit to the beaver lodge at Knepp, where Jubal collected gnawed logs and scattered wood chips left behind on the estate. These fragments became both material and inspiration. Responding to the marks made by the beavers, he developed carving techniques and tools that echo the scale and movement of beaver teeth, creating sculptural vessels that carry traces of both human and animal intervention.

All timber used in the exhibition has been sourced from Knepp itself, including ash trees removed due to disease. Some pieces still bear the original tooth marks of the beavers. Others reveal knots, splits and irregular grain patterns that have been intentionally preserved rather than refined away.

Many of the vessels have no fixed base, instead settling into their own natural balance – a reflection of Knepp’s wider rewilding philosophy, where natural systems are allowed to evolve without excessive control.

Born in the woodlands of America, Jubal spent decades working as a carpenter and furniture maker before relocating to Worthing and focusing fully on woodturning as an expressive art form.