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| April 2005 | Editor: Roger J. Benedict |
| Volume Number 12 | Phone (815) 397-8910 |
| Issue Number 4 |
There are two evening meetings per month, which are held at the Ken-Rock Community Center at 3218-11th Street, Rockford, IL.
The first meeting is on the first Tuesday and is an open carving meeting from 6:30 to 9:00 PM. Join the gang and bring your friends
The second meeting is on the third Tuesday, April 19th and is the business meeting, starting at 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM.
Every Wednesday is open carving from 8:30 AM to 11:00 AM. Come and join the gang, bring a friend! Enjoy a taco.
All our meetings are aimed at enjoying one another passion for woodcarving. Always there is a lot of carving information traded back and forth, and of course the life interest stories, "three for a dollar" are worth the gas mileage and time.
The Blackhawk Woodcarvers Monthly Business Meeting was called to order by Vice President, Ron Million. Old minutes were read and approved. Ron Million was welcomed back after recovering from a serious injury.
There was no old business.
New business: Roger Benedict showed a clay molding of a doorstop turtle as a model for a club carving project during the business meetings. John Bibby brought in the wood blocks for this project. We need members to band-saw them into cutouts. The project is to encourage members to come to meetings and specifically have a project only for the business meetings---not to be a home project.
Presentation by Rockford artist Scott Long was his presenting several of his sculptures and demonstrated the art of sculpting a head from modeling clay. He completed a 1/2-size head in 50 minutes while he discussed the details.
Meetings was adjourned at 9:00 pm
Dave Hoffman---showed three painted birds carved from a bass wood tree that he and a friend discovered a few years ago in a woods. The birds were a sandpiper, goose, and a duck. Uniquely, the birds were all one piece including the long beaks.
Also Dave brought in to show four old Chip Chats magazines of the 1976 era.
John Wacker---His first relief of a WIP church in a meadow. He says that wood is more interesting than ice.
Don Stansfield---A painted Santa with a staff. He noticed from classes that other carver's struggle with fitting of the staff in the hole in the hand. So used a 1/4-inch dowel for the staff with a drill blank to insure a good fit.
Carving a turtle door-stop at the next business meeting, April 19th. Bring your carving tools and stuff.
Clearing off the bench
"Thinking can get in the way," stated by Scott Long, a Rockford artist, who spoke at our last business meeting. This statement had me mulling over its meaning for several days by wondering how this applies to wood carvers. Initially it made sense and was somewhat humorous. But to reexamine how "thinking" is important for carvers to get from a solid block of wood to an emerged figure, there may be underlying circumstance that needs more thinking.
Perhaps in the eyes of an artist, too much thinking stymies creativity. With an abstract or modern-art artist, I can appreciate their conception of free flow of ideas. Well, can the same be said for woodcarving? Maybe a yes and a no are applicable. Obviously woodcarving requires a hand and eye coordination with thought to wood removal and please o'lord do not allow me to cut myself. However, in our context the "thinking" issue with Scott's statement is about creating the carving idea, not referring to the carving process. Somewhere there is in all of us an untapped source of creativity that is usually stymied by too much traditional thought and behavior. Perhaps it is this "traditional thought that gets in the way."
Keep your tools sharp
Roger Benedict
Misc Chips
BLACKHAWK CARVING SHOW
When----- Saturday, August 13, 2005
Time------10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Where-----Klehm Arboretum in Rockford, IL
CLUB CARVING PROJECT
We have developed a project to sell carved turtles at the August show. They will have a long tail to be used as a doorstop. All the carvings will be similar except for the finished painting. It is recommended that each turtle be painted in vivid color ala the "Chicago street cows of several years ago." Get your creative juices going on this one. Now here are some simple rules:
Carve your turtle only at the business meetings on the 3rd Tuesday night of each month, And bring your carving tools. This is neither a home project nor a Wednesday morning project.
Use the available models and patterns to develop the turtles. Try to keep them the same.
The variations are when painting them; creativity is with the finished painted patterns.
Have fun.
MEMBER TO MEMBER
Important; notify the newsletter editor Roger Benedict for any member’s sickness that requires announcing to the membership.
REGIONAL CARVING SHOWS
April 16, Menomonie, WI. Northwest Wisconsin Woodcarvers Ninth annual exposition and sale held at Thunder Mall. (715) 664-8638 Jean Moats.
April 24, Oshkosh, WI. Annual carving show and sale held at Winnebago County Expo Center on Cty Y east of Cty 76. (920) 725-5391 Bob Gehr.
May 14-15 Bloomington, IL. Annual Sculptors in Wood carving show and sale held at Challenger Learning Center. (309) 662-4267 Mike Hartzler.
July 9 Delafield, WI. Lake County Carvers 24th annual show competition and show held at Public Works Building 111 Main At. (262) 542-3867 Tom Ellenson.
August 13 Rockford, IL. Blackhawk Woodcarvers 10th annual carving and competition show held at Klehm Arboretum & Botanical gardens 2701 Clifton Ave. (815) 397-8910 Roger Benedict.
September 11 Madison, WI. Capital Area Carvers of Wisconsin 17th annual show and sale held at Olbrich Botanical Gardens Atwood Avenue.
October 22-23 Wheaton, IL. North Suburban Carvers 26th annual Artistry in Wood Exhibition and competition held at DuPage County Fair grounds. (773) 763-1788 Marcy Samat.
CARVING CLUB WEBSITE
http://www.carving.moscinski.net/
A Quote (think of it as a carver
)"The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation"
----August Rodin
The Blackhawk Woodcarvers was founded in 1993 and has a goal of preserving and encouraging the art of woodcarving. Membership is open to anyone having any skill of carving, including those who have never carved and want to learn about carving.
Blackhawk Woodcarvers
1921 Boscobel CourtRockford, IL 61107
