Gone clubbing...



 

Ross Oar and his creation

Well maybe it is not the type of clubbing you had in mind but it sure is my kind of clubbing!  A fellow carver gave me a heads up that the one of our neighboring clubs was going to hold their annual shindig and invited me along.  Of course the spouse was happy to have me out from under feet, so off we went.

The club in question is the Southtowns Woodcarvers of Western NY.  I had in the past taken classes with many of the carvers and it was good to see their latest creations.  I finally got to put a face with a name...Ross Oar (see picture above).  Ross was the originator of the "Oar Carver" pocket knife.  One of the few that contained one or multiple Wharncliffe blades (it is a blade shape desired by many a Caricature carver).  Shown above is an early creation of his,  what I presume to be an early revolutionary period soldier (not a historian, so this is an uneducated guess).  Prior to this I had not seen an in-the-round caricature carving fully painted in this size.  The carving was done out of a log cut by Ross with the only attachments being the weapon and a scabbard.  My guess is that with the base the carving is about 42" tall.  In speaking with Ross we learned that the face was that of one of our former presidents, Jimmy Carter.  It was really is an attractive carving and Ross really excelled in the finished presentation and the carving of its hair.  Hard to believe but if I read it right the carving is about 25 years old!

The clubs show was hosted in a local Senior Center, a spacious and bright space that allowed for the display of many carvings.  Being a member of a club we are truly thankful for the entities that host our organizations, without them we would surely be lost. 

Bob Statlander was also in attendance and he had a wide array of items for sale at the show.  No, I did not buy a knife...but I did buy reference material...nice!  (i.e. Tom Richmod's MAD Art of Caricature)

Of course after making our purchases and perusing all of the nice carvings we stepped outside to a picnic table and carved for about an hour.   It was a beautiful day and the club did a nice job of hosting.

All in all a great outing, if you ever get a chance to meet up with this group you are sure to enjoy the company. 

It's another day...carve something!!