Northern Lights by Carol Wallwork first published online November 6, 2008

Hand-carved birch board by Fred Livesay

“The wood is birch and was cut early in the summer of ’06.  It grew in the yard next to my Mother’s house and had been slowly dying.  My Mom’s neighbor had the tree cut down because they were afraid it might come down on the house in a storm.  Most of the wood from that tree is very curly from the stresses of a slow but growing death.”
               -Fred Livesay
                St. Paul, Minnesota wood carver, 

                teacher, museum consultant            

Handwoven Double-walled Russian-style Birch Basket by John Zadada

 

September 2006 Jim and  I traveled to Grand Rapids, Minnesota for the annual Goods from the Woods Expo.  I also took a wood carving class taught by Jögge  Sundqvist, one of the foremost green wood carvers in Sweden, like his father before him.  I tried carving freshly cut wood with knives as sharp as scalpels, sort of like surgical whittling.
 

Detail, Birch Cutting Board by Fred Livesay

I came away from my time among the wood carvers with only one nicked finger and a radically changed view of how I wanted to fit in the world.  They reminded me of what I’d misplaced--that simple joy of being engaged with my surroundings.  Their knowledge of birch is encyclopedic, like a Medieval monk’s sensitivity to parchments and ink recipes compared to a  first year art student’s. They see wood in it’s totality-environment, life cycle, grain, color and shape.
Returning home I looked at my environment in a new light.  I began collecting goods from the woods.  I also began experimenting with hides, eventually developing a style of hand stitching purses and backpacks using traditional Native American materials---deerskin, glass beads, trinkets, feathers--but with contemporary designs. 

In July 2007 I displayed a collection of Northern artisans works at Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, Virginia. 

Carved Viking Bowl by Jon Strom, Cook, Minnesota 2008