Carving out some time

Local woodworkers bring nature to life

Aside from pencil and paper drawing, it is hard to think of a more accessible art form than wood carving. With any knife and any piece of wood, the artistic process can begin. And, while some might argue carving is a craft, a look at the work coming out of shops and studios around Kawartha Lakes says otherwise.

An impressive collection of works is in progress Tuesday mornings upstairs at the Lindsay Armoury when the Lindsay Seniors Carving Club meets. Started in 2008, the club operates under the umbrella of the Lindsay Seniors Club and has had as many as 45 participants.

President Roger McNutt points out that members enjoy many benefits. “There is a social side with dinners and barbecues, but the real advantage is being around other carvers who can show you a different approach to a problem, or loan you a tool to try out before buying.”

The club also maintains a library of resources ranging from books that distinguish between a cedar waxwing and a bohemian waxwing, to specific, technical, how-to articles.

And, the group periodically holds workshops with guest instructors who lead members through a specific carving project.

There are as many carving styles on display at meetings as there are members, but Roy Madden favours a stylistic approach. He prefers working with knives only, and doesn’t paint his carvings, letting the natural wood colours and grain under a simple finish speak for itself.

Madden believes if “you don’t come to club, you don’t carve.”

He started at a night class at a community college where he met good instructors and great carvers whose ornate work could be found in local houses of worship. The biggest reward for him is the work itself. The end result is only part of the process.

“If you are making something as a gift, you are thinking of that person the entire time,” and heading to the carving area in the basement for “an hour” easily turns into three focused hours of undistracted thought. People pay good money to go to “mindfulness” retreats to achieve the same thing.

At the other end of the spectrum, Larry Jones – not one to join clubs of any kind – produces life-like representations of fish, birds and small animals in the privacy of his Bobcaygeon-adjacent studio. Local anglers and hunters may know him as a long-time professional taxidermist who formerly had a thriving shop near Dunsford.

He enjoyed the process of carving bodies and heads for traditional mounts and had carved his own working decoys for duck hunting, but never had the time to explore it as a pastime while working. When he retired from full-time taxidermy, he turned his hands to wood carving. He was 78 years old then and seven years later, he applies what he learned from his vocation in terms of painting, balance, anatomical correctness, and composition to carving.

He happily goes the extra mile to ensure the tiny scales found on a brook trout are present for example. His tool kit includes knives and powered rotary tools, and home-made implements, but he estimates that a beginning carver could be well-outfitted for $300.

The nearly 70 years Jones spent in the taxidermy business certainly shows in the painting of his carvings. “It is hard to get just right because the paint sits on top of the wood, while colour in nature comes from within.”

However, that might just be the observation of a perfectionist who is never satisfied with the quality of the work, who enjoys the pursuit of excellence as much as the final product. It is almost unfathomable, but everything – with the exception of the eyes – in his carvings is made of wood, including whiskers that are fine splinters of bamboo. Even the rocks (which could easily have been actual rocks) are carved and painted.

When asked what personal qualities are needed to become a carver, he said, “patience but also desire. You have to really want to do this. Especially when you come across a worm hole or a section of rot deep within a piece of wood that was undetectable when you began.” He also suggests that you “carry on with what you start, even if it develops a flaw. If you throw it away and start over, it is easier to throw away the next one.”

While his carvings are not for sale, it’s only because he doesn’t want to sell them, not because there isn’t a market. Lucky family and friends receive them as gifts, but there are avid buyers for wildlife carvings worldwide. One has to look no further than south of the border in Maryland where the Guyette and Deeter auction house has surpassed $200 million in sales of fish decoys and plaques, duck and crow calls, and decorative carvings in its 50-year history. Duck decoys command a small fortune, with one bringing $856,000 U.S. dollars. Not a bad return on $300.

Local carving clubs are always looking for new members.

The Lindsay Seniors Carving Club meets Wednesday mornings at the Armoury from 10 -11:30 a.m.

The Cajun Carvers meet downstairs at Hudson House in the Kawartha Settler’s Village Tuesdays from Noon to 3 p.m.