“Can you believe that he made that out of wood?” was a common refrain heard at the Dublin Community Center Friday afternoon as visitors contemplated Franz Feige’s craftsmanship.

The Peterborough artist began working with wood while living in Rindge in the 1980s.

“I saw a bowl made of wood, and truly liked it, but at several hundred dollars, couldn’t afford it, so decided I would make it myself,” said Feige.

He acquired a lathe and other tools locally, and developed his self-taught skills to the point that he became a juried member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. On display and for sale at the DubHub were wall hangings, candle-holders, bowls and a range of other offerings with smooth finishes revealing wood grains that one can’t see under the bark of their sources.

In the course of this endeavor, Feige completed a doctorate at Drew University, and became a psychotherapist. His artist’s statement offered that “Woodworking provided a perfect, needed balance to my more heady pursuits in academia.”

He has also taught woodworking over the years, and two years ago moved back to the region to devote his energies to, as his statement continues “this craft that offers so much joy and meaning to my life”

Hanging on the wall at the DubHub are several ladders Feige made. The largest of these is of beech.

“It took me maybe 40 hours,” he said, adding that he felled the tree himself.

Asked whether he had a favorite wood with which to work, he shook his head, but said that rosewood and sycamore are great materials.

“Soft pine is beautiful,” he added. 

“His efforts amaze me,” said Dwight Shank of Rindge at Friday’s exhibition. David Judge of Peterborough is a furnitur- maker himself, and he marveled at Feige’s work.

“He’s so versatile. I don’t know how he does it,” said Judge.

“There’s a spirituality in wood,” Feige said Friday. “It’s organic, unlike, say, stone.” During a discussion with visitors to the exhibition, he offered one reason for his historical reverence for wood.

“Without oak trees, we wouldn’t have the great cathedrals of Europe,” he said.

Mike Lambert of Peterborough regarded Feige’s work in comparison to his own efforts with wood.

“For every one bowl of wood I made, I broke nine that I’d started in the process,” he said. “He has a unique ability to have a conversation with a piece of wood.”

Although his artistry requires the felling of trees, Feige said he reveres them.

“They can tell you history -- what was in the air at certain points in their growth.” He also recognizes a fact of life -- “Without them, we couldn't breathe.”

Feige’s work will be on display at the DubHub through March 5.