CARVING OUT A NICHE.Byline: Don Robinson Don Robinson can refer to different people:
It's Tuesday afternoon, and the weekly carving session is under way at the Willamalane Adult Activities Center. This has nothing to do with turkeys. These are wood carvers. They use hand tools to shape small pieces of wood in what is a combination of art and craft. On this recent session, a dozen carvers were sitting around a large central table. Jeff was working on one of his "fold-up" pieces. Randy was carving a bird (birds are popular). Deanne had "my baby," her carousel horse's head. Dick had a few of his latest birds, including a life-sized saw-whet owl saw-whet owl n. A small brown and white owl (Aegolius acadicus) of North America, having no ear tufts. [From the resemblance of its call to the sound made in sharpening a saw.] with its head turned 180 degrees. Larry brought a pot-bellied Buddha he had just started. And at the end of the table, Peggy, who was sanding stacks of rune rune Any of the characters within an early Germanic writing system. The runic alphabet, also called futhark, is attested in northern Europe, Britain, Scandinavia, and Iceland from about the 3rd century to the 16th or 17th century AD. tiles that resemble Scrabble Scrabble Game in which two to four players compete in forming words with lettered wooden tiles on a 225-square board. Words spelled out by letters on the tiles interlock like words in a crossword puzzle. Words are scored by adding up the point values of their letters. pieces, showed off her latest Indian head Indian Head, town (1991 pop. 1,827), SE Sask., Canada, E of Regina. In a wheat-growing region, it has flour mills and grain elevators. A dominion experimental and forestry farm is in the town. letter opener. As always, the conversation moved faster than the work. These gatherings function as much for social as for craft purposes. The opportunity Willamalane offers is neither a class nor a club. But most of those who attend belong to the McKenzie Carvers, the main organization for these hobbyists in the Eugene-Springfield area. Bob Dow, a retired Springfield dentist, is the acknowledged founder of the club. He learned to carve during an 11-year motor home trip he and his wife took after he retired. When they returned, Dow began attending the weekly sessions that Willamalane had been sponsoring for some time. But he had joined a large carving club in Tucson, Ariz., during his trip and talked to several people who thought it would be good to start a club here. They did, sometime between 1996 and 1998; Dow is not sure of the date. Some of the original members remain active, including Dow and Clyde Underhill of Springfield and Larry Deedon of Eugene. Larry Whitson of Springfield, a retired industrial painter, is the club's current president. He says the group has about 60 members. While the Tuesday sessions are sponsored by Willamalane, the McKenzie Carvers club itself meets in the evening of the fourth Thursday of every month, also at the Willamalane Adult Activities Center. The park district and the club maintain a symbiotic relationship symbiotic relationship (sim´bīot´ik), n in implantology, that relationship assumed by an implant and the natural teeth to which it has been splinted. . Like they're going to fly away One of the stars of the club is Dick Jones of Eugene. He retired about a dozen years ago after working in the plywood industry and then starting a firm that makes display fixtures for stores. Jones got interested in carving after a friend called his attention to some duck decoys made by a local woman. "So I tried to carve a couple of ducks, and it was really kind of fun," he says. "Then I saw some that were really good and that really turned me on. "I still have the original one. I thought I was pretty good. Now I use it as a kind of measuring post. "But, yeah, I kind of got into ducks, and then I got into smaller birds and started buying books. I've learned most of my stuff from books." A number of club members have taken the bird- carving class that Jones offers every spring for Willamalane. His birds have won prizes in several of the carving shows around the Northwest. The McKenzie Carvers sponsor an annual show in October at Eugene's Oakway Center. They fill about 40 tables with their work. Most carvers are not in it to sell their work, though. They carve for pleasure. Jones has sold a few birds, but he donates the bulk of his pieces for use in fundraisers for such organizations as the Cascade Raptor Center. There are several types of woodcarving. Big figures, such carousel horse heads, require big mallets and chisels. Fine work on bird feathers and the like, Jones says, is called "in the round." Then there is bas relief Noun 1. bas relief - a sculptural relief in which forms extend only slightly from the background; no figures are undercut basso relievo, basso rilievo, low relief , and finally chip carving Chip carving is a style of wood carving in which knives are used to remove small chips of wood from the project surface in a single piece. Chip carvings have two planes: the wood surface and the point beneath the surface where the cuts intersect. for "intricate kinds of designs in boxes and things like that." "It's amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. how much carving has progressed in the last 10 or 15 years because of the tools that are available," Jones says. "They get such lifelike effects on feathers and things like that. Before, they used to have a stiff look. "Now you look at them and you think they're going to fly away." Some types of work require small power tools "similar to dental drills and that type of thing." Jones himself makes extensive use of wood burners with a wide variety of tips. For general purposes, many carvers prefer basswood basswood: see linden. basswood Any of certain species of linden common to North America. The name refers especially to Tilia americana, found in a vast area of eastern North America but centred in the Great Lakes region, and to T. caroliniana and T. , from the linden Linden, city, United States Linden, city (1990 pop. 36,701), Union co., NE N.J., in the New York metropolitan area; inc. 1925. During the first half of the 20th cent. tree, which has been described as a "soft hardwood." For his birds, Jones said he likes Tupelo gumwood gum·wood n. The wood of a gum tree, especially of a sweet gum. Noun 1. gumwood - wood or lumber from any of various gum trees especially the sweet gum gum from the swamps of Louisiana CODE, OF LOUISIANA. In 1822, Peter Derbigny, Edward Livingston, and Moreau Lislet, were selected by the legislature to revise and amend the civil code, and to add to it such laws still in force as were not included therein. . "The best wood is from the first 6 feet of the tree that gets underwater a lot." He says some decoy DECOY. A pond used for the breeding and maintenance of water-fowl. 11 Mod. 74, 130; S. C. 3 Salk. 9; Holt, 14 11 East, 571. carvers like sugar pine sugar pine n. A tall evergreen timber tree (Pinus lambertiana) of the Pacific coast of North America, having needles with white lines on the back that are grouped in fascicles of five. . A generous, giving bunch Jones is not the only club member who teaches. Dow, who is considered a master carver
The Master Carver is a member of the Royal household in Scotland. , has given a number of classes. He likes to do "portrait type of work," showing faces. And Paul Thompson of Springfield is well-known for his classes in carving carousel horses. One of his happiest former students is Deanne Tiffany, the vice president of McKenzie Carvers. Tiffany and her husband moved to Springfield 2' years ago after living in the San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. area. She is a professional painter, but she never tried carving until she heard about the local club and signed up for Thompson's class. "I have it (a painted, half-sized carousel horse on a rocker) sitting in my living room now, and I can't believe I did it," she says. "I've started another one. I've also had a couple of my little birds in a gallery in Florence, and they both sold at a price I was very shocked and pleased at." Tiffany appreciates the McKenzie group's welcoming attitude. "I really am surprised and encouraged by the group because of how generous and helpful they are," she says. "I've been a professional artist for 40 years, and I've never run into as much help or encouragement in that world as I have in the wood carvers. "They're just an incredible group of people." One of the more unusual artistic approaches is taken by Jeff Crisp of Creswell, who does what he calls "fold-up carvings." He uses the technique on objects ranging from a butterfly to a miniature deer. The butterfly wings move, as do the deer's front and rear legs. The hinges that make the movement possible are carved out of the original block of wood and are an integral part of the figure, not attached separately like door hinges. Crisp has been working on this system for four years and intends to publish a series of books about it. "Layout is everything," he advises. |
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