I began carving 20 years ago, but only in the past 3 years have I gotten serious about it. The woods of the Rocky Mountain west and it's history inspire me the most. Most of my life I have been a hunter and a trapper, which tends to accent my awareness and perspective on the subjects that I choose to carve. Mountain men and native americans to me are not models from a Sears catalog, but living breathing subjects full of uniqueness fashioned from their lives spent in raw environment called creation.
I carve primarily with hand tools, but do some detail work with rotary equipment. There is something undeniably pleasurable about shoving a razor sharp chisel or gouge thru a piece of wood, and watching as the intent of your mind and hands develops chip of wood by chip of wood. There are so many interesting faces, wings, feathers paws and hooves in wood that time will never allow us to find them all.
The woods I use include yellow pine (ponderosa), western
juniper, lodgepole pine, basswood, and butternut.
I have carved in chestnut, walnut, aspen, cottonwood,and fir, but
find wood types are like people - they vary greatly from one individual
to another-, and often times depend soley
on how much sun shone on them when they were brought up.
When I am floating down a river, climbing a mountain , or
snowshoeing thru a drainage of virgin timber, I am inspired. To me
you would have to be comatose
not to feel the breath of
life within you when you have a redtail hawk soaring overhead. Perhaps it's the iridescent eyes of a lynx
staring out from under a spruce tree,
or an old buffalo horn sticking out of a creek bank. The ice cold water
of a mountain stream upon lowering your face into it to drink, or a
coyote howling on a 40 below still winter nite. All that and a 1,000
more experiences are in my work.
I believe we are all born with the urge to be creative. This can
take many forms. Or it may lay dormant in an individual never to be
prodded or coaxed awake his entire life.
Modern technology allows most anyone to be content with the
inventiveness of others. You can be seduced, entertained, made to
laugh, cry, or desire with out
physically making a move. It's our choice. But is it such a
revelation that we want to see something born from the works of our
hands and minds when our Creator is the ultimate designer
in the universe? With this knowledge in hand, I carve. It's as much
an exploration as it is a reconnaissance.
Thank you for showing an interest in my work. There are many excellent artists in our world and I humbly acknowledge their work, their inspiration, and their creative process as a instrumental and integral prerequisite to my own. We are each a sum of parts gleaned from others. And I am no different, but probably more in debt than most because I see so many sculptures and works of art that push me beyond inspiration. I only hope that maybe in some small way , some of my wood sculpture will do the same for others.
Will Kats
