Wood Carving Illustrated - Issue #11 - Summer 2000

A Love Affair with Wood:
Managing editor Roger Schroeder shares his rewarding writing career

Singing the Praises of the Lark Carousel
A Minnesota work of art is a popular stop for tourists of all ages

Be Smart-Carve an Egghead
Pete LeClair loves to carve faces

Poor Man's Contest
WCI invites readers to submit tool ideas that keep the money in the bank

Pattern Profile: One Too Many
A tipsy drunk keeps to his feet

An Introduction to Old World-Style Chip Carving
Barry McKenzie continues his series on chipcarving styles

The Great Circus Parade
Carved circus wagons are the feature of this annual Milwaukee, Wisconsin event

Taking a Front Seat with John Bauer, Furniture Maker
New Mexico woodworker carves his creations

Carving the Acanthus Spoon
Phillip Odden demonstrates carving the Norsk way

Pattern Profile: Three Happy Fellas
A Swedish carver creates a trio of men out on the town

A Hot Project
Peter Ortel carves a fireman's bust

Wood Species: Black Walnut : An American Aristocrat
WCI's wood column offers everything you need to know about this favorite carving wood

Black Walnut: A Wood Worth Carving
Ray Kunz shares his experiences with this species

Angelic Sculptures in Walnut
Bennett Blackburn pushes wood to its limits when he creates abstract art

Rocky Mountain Wood Carving School
Alberta, Canada is the site for popular carving instructors and students

Festival Demonstrates Art in the Making
Jamestown, New York Audubon show puts artists to work

Regular Columns
Editor's Letter
Letters to the Editor
Events Calendar
Classified Ad

Roger Schroeders success as a writer began when he gave up trying to write the great American novel. Instead, he turned to writing about his hobby: woodworking. Sharpening his skills and his photography and expanding his interests, he went on to author 16 books and nearly 200 magazine articles. Ranging in scope from woodcarving to house building, the books include such titles as How to Carve Wildfowl, Carving Signs, Making Toys, and Timber Frame Construction, which has over 77,000 copies in print. Founding editor of Wood Carving Illustrated, Roger is past president of the Long Island Woodcarvers Association and active in the Long Island Wood Workers club. He is a retired English teacher who specialized in teaching writing and research, Roger currently lectures on topics such as how to make wood into furniture, houses and sculpture. In the remaining time, he is an amateur cabinetmaker who enjoys constructing Victorian reproductions, and is an amateur carver who has won a number of blue ribbons for his natural wood sculptures.

Harley Refsal teaches Scandinavian Studies at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he also holds the title Resident Fellow in Scandinavian Folk Art. He is an internationally recognized figure carver, specializing Scandinavian-style flat-plane carving. Refsal was born and raised on a farm near Hoffman, Minnesota, homesteaded by his Norwegian-immigrant grandparents. He began working in wood as a young boy. His father, a carpenter and farmer, and a woodworker uncle who lived nearby kept him well supplied with wood, tools and encouragement. Since the 1980s, Refsal, who speaks fluent Norwegian, has shared his knowledge of, and skills in, Scandinavian flat-plane carving with thousands of carvers through classes and presentations in the United States and Scandinavia. His name is so integrally linked with the revival of this carving style that it is rapidly becoming known as the Refsal style; Refsal is available to teach woodcarving seminars and judge exhibits and shows. His carvings are available for sale.

Peter Ortel, New York City born and raised, retired from the New York Fire Department after serving for 21 years as a Firefighter and started carving in 1990.

He was elected into the Caricature Carvers of America in 1992 and served as president of the CCA from 1996 to 1998. He is the co founder of the Mid Hudson Woodcarvers Guild and a member of several woodcarving groups including the National Woodcarvers Association and the Affiliated Woodcarvers.

He always had a fondness for cartooning and love for wood but when he combined the two by carving caricatures, it became his passion. The excitement and diversity of the environment he knows are his inspiration and his imagination and humor are reflected in his carvings of the everyday people we see around us, if we really look.

Peter's work has been featured on local Television, several newspapers and national and international magazines. He has won many awards and has taught carving classes around the country. His biggest success to date was to win the Best of Show award and People's Choice award at the 2000 International Woodcarvers Congress in Davenport, Iowa for his carving he calls 'Love”. Because a caricature has never done this before, it is considered a major breakthrough for caricature carving.

He is presently teaching seminars and speaking at woodcarving clubs, wood carving shows and events throughout the country and is available for commissions. His enthusiasm, animation and shared knowledge inspire his students to discover their creativity and individuality in a fun atmosphere. As an instructor, he stresses originality and he helps to cultivate the artist within each of us by encouraging students to stretch their ability and imagination. He teaches his students the theories behind the woodcuts so students not only learn how to carve in the classroom but they also can take and use that knowledge on their own.