From Retirement Whim to Award-Winning Art: A Woodcarver's Journey

Meet Jerry, a retired journalist whose chance encounter with a woodcarving group twelve years ago transformed into a passionate pursuit of the craft. From his winter home in Arizona to the Oregon Carvers Guild, Jerry has carved everything from miniature carousel horses to an award-winning replica of the Cutty Sark's figurehead.

About Our Featured Carver

Jerry is a retired journalist who has worked as a reporter, editor, bureau chief, managing editor, photographer and columnist. He lives just outside of Portland, Oregon and winters in Arizona, where he continues to pursue his woodcarving passion.

How did you get started in woodcarving?

It all started on a whim. About a dozen years ago. My wife and I, both recently retired, were in Hemet, Ca., for a few months to get away from the Oregon rain and to help complete a new house for a Habitat for Humanity family.

Once a week, the RV resort that was our winter home hosted the Hemet woodcarving club in one of the activity rooms. Because the Habitat house had been completed, I was at loose ends and looking for things to do before we moved on.

I dropped in to the carving group and was intrigued. The group leader offered me a sharp knife and a cutout of a long neck goose for $10 and offered to teach me how to carve. Within 10 minutes I was hooked.

The Hemet group had a by-the-numbers progression through about a half-dozen projects, each one a bit more involved than the last. By the time I was ready to leave Hemet for Mesa, AZ a couple months later, I was doing things I had never considered possible.

What happened when you returned home to Oregon?

Returning home, I found a group of carvers in the Portland, Or. area and quickly joined them. Then I discovered Jeff Harness, a carving coach, and began taking lessons in his chip-filled two-car garage. Later on I helped create the Oregon Carvers Guild, which now boasts in excess of 100 members.

Tell us about your approach to projects and what you've carved over the years.

My plan has always been to make the current project more challenging than the one I just completed, and to learn something from every one of them. That means that, unlike some carvers who concentrate on carving the perfect Santa, my collection of pieces is a scattershot of experiences. A miniature carrousel horse. A replica of a hand from the Statue of Liberty. A pair of his and her torsos. A relief carving of an abandoned pioneer house. A scene from a trip to Venice.

Is there a project you're especially proud of?

The most successful piece is a miniature carving shop patterned after one from the 1850s in Scotland. It's a complete shop with band saw, work bench and a carver working on a ship's figurehead.

The shop is linked to the biggest single piece I've done: a quarter-scale version of Nannie Dee, the figurehead on the clipper ship Cutty Sark. I saw her about 15 years ago (before I ever considered carving) during a trip to England, and fell in love with the ship, it's history, the beautiful lines and Nannie Dee at the prow. It took two summers, 13 pieces of wood in an elaborate glue-up and between 350 and 400 hours to complete. She's won awards every time she's been shown in competition. But when she's not on display, she lives in a wooden box in the shop. So today, I'm trying to find a home for her, where people will be able to appreciate the story behind the figurehead.

What's your current carving situation in Arizona?

We now winter in Mesa, just east of Phoenix, where I'm the nominal head of a carving group in the Mesa Spirit RV Resort. We meet twice a week and on most days we'll have eight to 10 carvers working on projects. A couple years ago I talked the most experienced member to teach a project. It turns out he's a natural teacher with an endless list of ideas for the group to tackle.

How has your group done in competitions?

The carvers are encouraged to enter the Desert Woodcarving Show in Mesa each February. And we do pretty well. Good enough that one of the officials jokingly referred to us as "carpetbaggers" who come in and snatch an armload of prizes. In recent years we've fielded the top award in the Novice division twice, the Intermediate division once and three years ago I won the Chairman's Award and the People's Choice balloting for the carving shop.

This past year I was honored with being asked to be on the three-person panel tasked with judging the Novice entries. It was a rewarding experience, as it gave me the chance to talk to people new to the art and to offer both praise and suggestions for improvement.

What do you stress to new carvers?

One of the things I stressed is the importance of stretching your creativity. Patterns are fine for beginners, but real growth comes from challenging yourself to do new things, to look around and ask yourself "how would that look as a wood carving?" And then find out. They won't all work out. I've made my share of designer firewood. But I've also got pieces that went up against carvings that were better executed, but won because they were something out of the ordinary.

What's your main piece of advice for someone just getting into carving?

If I have one piece of advice for a new carver, it would be to find a group to carve with. If not in person, then on-line. The beauty of being part of a group is the fellowship, the support when things go wrong, the exchange of ideas and the honest critique. I've learned much more from others than I have from myself.

Jerry's journey demonstrates how a chance encounter can transform retirement into an award-winning artistic pursuit. His emphasis on continuous challenge, creative growth, and community engagement offers inspiration for carvers at any skill level.

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