 | .about me.
I started carving fairly late,
considering my access to wood (my father a tree care worker and I growing up in a
rural area). Throughout my youth I tried carving a few times, once with a
carving handle and blade set I received as a gift, but mostly with whatever
pocketknife I had lying around. I have to admit that I certainly much preferred
to draw. I excelled in art through high school and ended up attending the Art
Institute of Philadelphia for industrial design technology. It's a major that
included, among many other fields, toy design.
One year, while I was still living in Philly, exceptionally broke, I took the
train home for Christmas. All I had were a couple of small blocks of balsa, a
pocketknife and some razor blades. By the time Christmas morning rolled around, I
had a floor full of dust and shavings, and a surprisingly well carved beginning
to a nativity set (just Mary and Joseph). My parents were thrilled, and for my
birthday later the next year I received a set of palm chisels and a dremel
tool.
For a while, I worked with both, carving wood spirits into whatever I could find
(small pieces of 2"x4", broken chair legs, pieces of branches). Eventually, I not
so much tired of using the dremel as I wore out or lost all my bits. So, I
switched to using mostly the palm chisels.
Come early 2003, I decided to go on a long(very long) distance cycling trip.
Bicycles (and painting) are what take up most of my time when I'm not carving.
The trip included riding across the United States, camping the whole way, then
similarly down around the coast of Mexico, and back up to NY/NJ. I left in
September of that year, and well, to find out what happened (it's been quite a
long trip), you're going to have to click here. A
little warning though, I am a 27 year old former New York City bicycle messenger,
the language on that site can be a little PG-13 at times... In the end though,
having taken that old palm chisel set with me, I discovered my love for carving
after finding inumerable sources of inspiration both along the way and in each of
the pieces of driftwood I found and carved.
|
