Wood carvings by Maura

So, You really want to be a woodcarver?

The State of Woodcarving in America Today

Chapter 5

I Call Myself a Woodcarver

Lately I have started calling myself a woodcarver and in calling myself that, I have changed.  I am becoming more who I was supposed to be.  I walk a little taller and prouder even if my clothing is covered with woodchips from time to time. I consider the woodchips to be a conversation starter. It does not matter that most people have no interest in what I am doing and that some would even seem to think I am just wasting my time.  Every now and then I meet someone who is fascinated by the fact that I have chosen to dive into a woodcarving career.  These are the people that I love talking to.  My enthusiasm translates itself to them and I can see in their eyes when I have sparked their curiosity.

I believe that the future of woodcarving is directly proportionate to the amount of people that each carver can introduce to woodcarving.  Whether as a carving instructor, a talkative salesman or just a helpful soul, it is imperative that we as woodcarvers and sculptors attempt to reach out to the public.  From a historical perspective we should willingly seek to pass our woodcarving knowledge and techniques to the next generation.  It is a continuing tradition since the dawn of man.  There is much knowledge which has been lost over the ages. There are ancient metal forgings that we still don't understand, weaving techniques that are mysteries. There are obsolete languages that we can't decipher.  There is ancient glassware that we can not reproduce.  Just as certain as there are species of endangered animals disappearing everyday, there is specialized knowledge also falling into oblivion.

I cannot call myself a woodcarver if I don't carve, so that is my foremost mission.  Just why I started to carve is a mystery even to me.  My closest family and friends have approached me with the question of why I choose woodcarving.  The honest answer is simple, I really don't know.  I look back on the first time I held a knife next to a piece of wood.  It was at a time when I knew no other carvers and don't even believe that I had ever seen a woodcarving demonstration.  But there I was, whittling away.  It was in those first few moments that my life changed forever.  A passion was born and a fire developed. 

You must understand me to understand the enormous effect woodcarving had on my life.  I have been a lazy individual for the most part.  I have never had any real drive or ambition. My first jobs were basically doing anything that would make me some pocket money.  I helped a neighbor stuff envelopes, I helped friends with their paper routes, I made signs for local neighborhood businesses and I restored a few pieces of furniture for friends. I graduated high school and started college with idea of becoming an architect.

 I loved the art history and drafting classes but I quickly gave up the idea when confronted with the math and physics that was involved with becoming an architect.  I got my first real job because my mother decided it was time for me to pay my fair share in the house.  She called me up one morning and told me where and when to show up.  I did.  I was trained to be a darkroom technician in an x-ray dept at the local hospital.  Hospital salaries were generous in those days and with overtime I was making more money than any of my friends. However as automation began taking over the x-ray industry, I knew that my job would not last forever. A friend then suggested that we both go and receive EMT training.  We did and I received my license a few months later.  After doing a month long internship in the emergency room of a hospital, I decided that the job was not for me.

 I learned that I really didn't care for blood and other body fluids that much.  Someone suggested that I go and take the test for a job in the post office.  I did.  And I did particularly well.  I never seemed to have a problem taking those tests that you didn't have to study for.  Most civil service tests are like that, some general math and English questions.  The post office test also had a lot of memorization.  I don't know why my brain worked so well that morning but it did and I scored in the top 1%.  A few months later I received a notice telling me that I was being hired  as a letter carrier in Manhattan.  Off I went, delivering mail in the canyons of skyscrapers in the big city.  For a young person, it was a good job, even exciting.  I loved the hustle and bustle of the city swirling all around me.  The post office offered a generous starting salary with a full compliment of benefits.  It was a great job for someone as unambitious as me.  All I had to do was show up each day.  Well I did have to work, but it didn’t seem so bad.