I’ve never spent much time wondering what influences might be lurking within my carvings. I began creating them in 1999 as a bit of respite from linear woodworking. Since I had no carving experience to speak of at the time, they were born of a fairly simple notion – I think I’ll try this out and see what happens.
I confess to mulling it over for quite a while before I got around to trying it out. The delay involved sketching some ideas and thinking that it might be a good thing if the horse wasn’t identified as a giraffe by everyone else. I also thought about getting some instruction on how to carve animals, but decided against it. Winging it seemed like a better idea. Best to leave a little room for heart and soul.
The first one lived on the kitchen table for a while after it was finished. I liked how it looked, but got in the habit of peering at it during meals, still a little mystified about its creation. One day after lunch, I decided to blame it all on intuition, and haven’t thought much about it since.
A shop owner purchased my first few efforts. She presented them as folk art and usually referred to them as the critters. Coming from her, I’ve always thought her name for them implied a sense of endearment for both the carvings and the creatures they are meant to represent. Given their origins, the name was a fit.
The Critters have been taking up residence in other peoples homes for quite a while now. To date, there have been no reports of disappointment in their appearance or behaviour.
Cheers, Jim