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9:00 AM TO 5:00 PM
RIDGWAY, PENNSYLVANIA
ELK COUNTY
SANDY BEACH PARK
RIDGWAY, PA
A show to benefit the Make a Wish Foundation and YMCA
31 artist showed up from all over the world
February 12, 2000 - 31 carvers descended on the town of Ridgway, PA. This event was successful thanks to the efforts of the residents of Ridgway, who went well beyond anything expected from the carvers from near and far - England, Germany, Canada, from South Florida and the northeast coast of the U.S., Enough can't be said about the hospitality of the people of Ridgway. They all deserve a round of applause. Now, here's some photos
The event was the work of only a few people and the two fellows who deserve most if not all of the kudos! This is Rick and Randy Boni folks from Bootjack Mountain Studio. They pulled it off without a hitch.
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The Organizers
The Boni Brother´s who made this Event come true!
Thanks to you guys!
The Carvers
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Ooops one missing!?
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Here they are!
The Chainsaw
Artists
February 12, 2000
Rick Pratt - Novis Champ Nationals
Brian Ruth - "Masters Of The Chainsaw"
Brian "the Barbarian" Sprague
"Red" Whiteman - tikis & totems
Dennis Beach - 5 time National Champ
Joe King - carver and writer for "Chip Chat" Mag.
Jeff Pinney - North east Novis Champ
"Wild Bill" Droan - Centerville, PA
Shelly Upole - Oakland, MD
Michael Blaine - Winchester, NH
Greg Napolitan - Frenchtown, NJ
Rick Boni - Host
Randy Boni - Host
Donny Steager - Ridgway, PA
John Dempsey - Rochester, NY
Wayne DeMoranville - Lakeville, Mass
Larry Holman - Doylestown, PA
Bill Plant - Doylestown, PA
Denny Richardson - Pittsburgh, PA
Duane Bender - Muncy Valley, PA
Dennis Heath - Country of England
Holger Baer - Country of Germany
# 4 standing from the right, green
jacket
Luke Andrews - Ontario, Canada
Bill Hooven - Mackeyvill, PA
"Woody" Adams - Malone, NY
Rick Torres - Dover, DEL
Rick Pratt |
Carving Artists
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BRIAN "THE BARBARIAN" SPRAQUE |
| some Hardware
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Winning Skulptures ! Eagle "Reach out for the Sky" from |
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This one from |
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and some more... |
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above |
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The "Hand Chair" at the right from
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Outdoors Column for 2/27/00
"CHAINSAWS TAKE ON DIFFERENT USES IN THE HANDS OF AN ARTIST"
By Will Elliott
They're coming out of the woodwork.
Chainsaw artists are everywhere and wildlife figures dominate themes. The proof could be seen at Ridgway (cq), Pennsylvania on February 12 when 30 carvers gathered for a Mid Winter Chainsaw Carving Rendezvous. Randy Boni, its coordinator, with just a month of planning, made contacts mainly through email and the Internet. Boni's efforts drew Holger Baer from Heidelberg, Germany, Dennis Heath from Herfordshire, England, five carvers from New York State, 13 >from Pennsylvania, two each from Maryland and Ohio and one each from Florida, New Jersey, Delaware, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and the Province of Ontario.
The rendezvous featured a day of carving competition at Sandy Beach Park in Ridgway viewed by more than 500 spectators as the day progressed. Each artist worked on one project. At the end of the day, prizes were given to the top five carvers and all the carvings were sold at auction. The auction collected just under $8,000. All proceeds were donated equally to the YMCA and the Make a Wish Foundation.
Michael Blaine (cq) of Winchester, New Hampshire, a national champion, took first place with a stalking mountain lion carving.
Second place went to Western New York carver Rick Pratt, who did a soaring eagle. Pratt 37, a wiry and powerful 5-foot, 6-inch carver from Corfu, lives on and around trees and woodcarving. Pratt worked as a climber with Bob's Tree Service in Batavia for seven years. Since 1995, the first year of operations, he has volunteered to install camera equipment used to televise hatchlings in the eagles nest which can be viewed each spring at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center on Casey Road in Alabama.
Pratt took his business name, Eagle's Nest, from that activity, but his carvings over the past eight years have been diverse - and numerous - wildlife and people carvings. ""I've done more than 1,000 eagles and bears, 200 owls and pelicans, and many squirrels, raccoons, beavers, wolves, mountain lions, buffaloes, herons, songbirds, fish and other creatures through the years,'' he said.
This is not a hobby for the weak of wrist or fist. Yet the final touches made to a carving require the slightest of hand to attain those realistic details of a finished figure. ""You have to be in control at every touch of the saw in the grain of the wood as you block, shape and finish each detail of the piece,'' Pratt said. ""I go from my gut rather than use stencils or templates.''
Size does not matter to Pratt. Most familiar of his larger works is his 12-foot tall grizzly bear on display at Six Flags Darien Lake. He is currently working on a life-sized bison which he plans to donate in support of the Buffalo Zoo.
Donations and public spirited events play an important part in the lives of many of these carvers. Shelly Upole (cq) of Oakland Md., the only female carver at the Ridgway Rendezvous, said, ""I like doing things that benefit others and serve God.'' Upole, deeply religious and an experienced taxidermist and wood painter, has only been chainsaw carving for just over a year. Her figure of an Indian wearing a bear skin robe finished in the top third of the competition.
Dennis Heath, like Rick Pratt, began working with trees as a British forester. His nature and wildlife carvings, including studies of hounds, interested not only his neighbors in Stevenage but also admirers across England, Europe and - after his trip to Rigdway - fellow carvers in the United States.
Holger Baer, 38, is unique among carvers in Germany. The lean, lanky tree carver, with long, black hair tied back in a pigtail, noted, ""Most woodcarvers in Germany do religious figures.'' Baer has gained an international reputation as a totem carver, the only one in Germany. He has made successive trips across the US, studying the designs and symbolism of totem figures. He has previously worked mainly with chisels and grinders, but his trip to Pennsylvania interested him in chainsaw carving.
Pratt and his wife, Judy, travel to many carvers' gatherings, but the Ridgway event was special for them. Rick gave Judy his second-place prize, a woodcarving model of Echo chainsaw. She used it to carve a small bear figure, her first attempt at modeling a full-standing figure.
To find out more about this emerging outdoors art form, check with Pratt at 599-3043 or visit his website: www.chainsawartist.com.
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