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Hand carved walking companions and unique art
About the Artist
| I began carving for fun back in 1957.
At that time, I worked at a boating factory. I had a friend,
Charlie Hall, that could carve small, intricate, chain links from a
farmers match. I started trying to do the same - and my interest
in carving began.
For many years I farmed the land, owned a mechanic shop, and carved a little here and there for fun. I've always done my job, plus a little more. In 1990 I started doing more and more carving. That year, I carved my Mother In Law a "Christmas Goose" for Christmas. It didn't do much to fill our stomachs, but was a big hit with her just the same. The next thing I knew I was carving all kinds of wild life. |
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| In 1994, I was one of the
founding members for a club called the Crooked Lake Wood Carvers".
Crooked Lake was the Indian name for Cauga Lake out in our area.
In 1999, I had a heard attack and soon afterwards stared making cane-type, walking companions. I call them "companions" because they take on a life of their own. I never quite know what I'm going to carve until I get into it. The wood usually tells me what it should be... and then I just help it along. Many of my canes have a theme, or tell a story of sorts with a series of pictures. These days, I still do some mechanics, trucking, and a lot of carving. I recently started teaching a class to some of the local Mennonite teens. We start with the basics using bass wood, and carving chains and other basic items... like the chains I first started with. Of course my wife's and my favorite thing to do is to travel the country-side visiting our children and many grandchildren. We have 7 children, and 6 of them live outside of New York. We travel around between NY, NC, SC, WI, FL and Alabama, and I'm always looking for potential wood to use as we go. Some of the woods I have used are bass wood, butternut, diamond willow, walnut and cherry wood. Each item you will see here has been hand carved by me, using a variety of tools and knives. I even have a special apron my wife made for me, and a dust eating system I made myself. I hope you enjoy viewing some of my art-work. Feel free to drop me a line with any comments, or if there's anything you're interested in purchasing. Thank you, |
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