Scottsdale Woodcarvers practice art dying – Tribune East Valley

Wood carving as a hobby or profession descends in this day and age, but longtime supporters of the craft remain enthusiastic and ready to promote it.

Every winter in the valley there is a large showcase and competition, which gathers the community of artists and suppliers and invites visitors. This year, the 35th annual exhibition and the sale of Desert Wood will be held on February 22-23 at the Mesa Centennial Hall, where about 100 retains will show more than 300 complex threads.

“It’s a great, great hobby and I really enjoy relaxation and then interact with other carpenters. You have a lot of good people who are ready to teach you how to get better, you know, you can learn from them, “said Bobby Gray, president of the Scotsdale Grand Canyon Woodide and chairman of the show.

Gray was interested in carving 21 years ago when he watched others carve. His mentor invited him to a club meeting and he was hooked.

After withdrawing from a 36-year career in service to deliver packages, Carving has become a serious fun.

“The more you carve, the better you get,” said Gray, whose work Buffalo Soldier won the best of the show at last year’s event in meat.

Gray is a member of the two major clubs in the Valley-Studi, based in the Tempe Arizona Woodcarvers Association, is led by Mark Mosher.

The gray carbs with others during club meetings and sometimes at home. Club meetings are doubled as carving sessions.

“Some people go there to carve, but then some people go there to talk and socialize,” he said. “I like to carve around other carvers and interact socially. I go out more than that. “

91 -year -old David Rushlo from Tempe is another specialized carpenter and carver for at least 45 years. After withdrawing from his work at a telecommunications company, he took it full -time. The village of friendship, where it resides, provides space for woodworking and is often joined by others for regular carving sessions.

He calls it a “excellent hobby.”

“If you do things that have a lot of details and other things, it completely takes your mind what is happening around you and in the world, because you have to focus on doing details on the project rather than messing,” he said.

Rushlo, who has spent 23 years traveling in carving classes in carving, is too happy to study others. At the time, he was making his livelihood from him, but now it’s a minimal income.

Rushlo Carves portraits of cowboys, American Indian chiefs, saddle manufacturers, golfers and other lifestyles, Christmas -themed objects and animals such as buffalo, bears and deer.

The predominant environment is Basewood, while Butternut Wood is also a popular choice. The carvers start with a block of a certain size depending on the project and make either a relief thread or a cut structure. Once the main piece is ready, the carving begins.

“You can spend 40, 50, 60 hours or more on a given subject. It depends on how big it is and how fast you are a carver, “Rushlo said.

Wood and tools are necessary, as well as patience, time and perseverance. Patience is important because mistakes can happen and wood may need to be thrown in the middle.

“Some people will come and ask you for criticism of carving, but there are certain people who do not want criticism,” Rushlo said. “And the only way you will deal with this game is that you have to have some criticism that threaded and you need to practice. You should carve a few days a week.

“If you only do it once every two weeks or once a month, it’s like starting anywhere. Because you have to get used to the tools; You have to get used to the wood. You need to understand that wood slices in one way and it breaks and breaks the other way because of the way the grain lies in it. It’s just something that people don’t understand. “

In a technologically changing world, the carving is abandoned, Gray said.

Club membership is decreasing. Grand Canyon Woodcarvers has about 300 members in the 70s, and now there are about 50.

“The numbers are decreasing because the carvers are aging,” Gray said. “This is a hobby that does not enter many young people. This is how society is nowadays. “

Rushlo said that earlier there were at least half a dozen young people in class and secondary education who want to learn to carve.

“We no longer get young people,” he said. “They are too concentrated on computers or their mobile phones or whatever.”

“When I went to school, we had hours for shops at school, we had wood shops and we had art hours and all that,” he said. “Half of the schools have removed those classes that I do not understand.”

Rushlo added that Yuma and Tucson had broadcasts, as well as in television shows and magazines outside the country on the subject. “Probably in the last 15, 20 years I have not called anyone to make an article about a magazine,” he said.

“It’s really sad.”

The show and sale of the desert carving will be held from 9:00 to 16:00 Saturday, February 22 and 10am to 4pm on Sunday, February 23, at Centennial Hall Mesa, 201 N. Center St., Mesa. Demonstrations, raffles, seminars and carving are some of the activities offered.

The entry fee is $ 10 per weekend. Parking is free.

Details: DesertwoodcarvingShow.com.