European carving

[John_C]

I got to wondering why when I Google carving I never see art from places like England ....with a little poking around I discovered a UK version of Google Its kinda cool to see how the English and others carve, I didn't see much in the way of Characture art I wonder if its an American thing?

[Canopener]

John,
Very much an American thing, especially cowboys and Santa's, and especially with the Brits. In fact; it can get kind of contentious along with our use of carving knives and painting our carvings. I once read a letter to the editor in "Chip Chats" that bordered on nasty and suggested we should go carve something "like a nice hippopotamus". Of course; I then decided my destiny was to carve cowboys and Santa's with knives.
On a more serious note; the writer Peter Benson has written numerous articles on this and his travels in the US, visiting friends and carving clubs that enjoy this type of carving. Ahhh , diplomacy.
This is just some of my experience, and it is fair to point out that there are many people in the US that share these opinions on caricature carving.
Jim

[John_C]

If I read you right there are people who look down on it? I dont get it. Now I can see where some art is downright awful like peinters who paint religious depictions with something less then paint if you know what I mean but how can you disrespect wood carvings like Charactures?

[midnightcarver]

I guess you have to remember that England and Europe in general, have a rich and LONG culture of woodcarving. Look at Japan, China, and India and you will see more carvings in their architecture and furniture. The US is still less that 300 years old, And our furniture and architecture were developed during the industrialized age. It's too bad that buildings and furniture does not have much carving detail in this country. (snifff)

[gtech]

Yes, Canada is young too compared England or France and even if you see a lot of imported carvings in stores, when you see a Canadian one, it' normally a maple leaf... or a moose, no Venus of Milo here to remind our past but totems.

But then, when you think about it, that's Canada (and U.S.) carving heritage. Wood has always been there, and has been used for carving. In the old countries, stone was used for carving because there were more stones than trees.

The problem with wood is that it's not as durable as stone.

Gilles

[chuckbolton]

as "new worlders" we canadians and americans are more tolerant of new things? the thing that gets me here is that in many places carving is looked upon as a craft, not an art form-- my aunt who paints ceramics told me that everything we are carving today started out as a ceramic figurine-- i didnt even begin the argument.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

I think we're just more talented than they are and maybe they havent yet figured out how to upload their photos. I also think that one of the reasons Columbus went looking for a new world is that he couldn't find any decent carvers in the old one. Just my opinion.

[paolo59]

The main problem in Europe is that we have different languages and, if you do a google search, you can find only english carving. Now, I don't know about England, but both in Italy and in other european country there is an old wood carving tradition, particularly in the alpine regions. Another reason is that many carvers are not used to show their work on the net. Anyway here in Italy we have at least three woodworking forum with a wood carving section, I could give you the link, but obviously the language is italian......Maybe you have a look to a friend of mine blog :
INTAGLIO NEL LEGNO again the language is italian, but is a blog and you can look through the post for the pictures just to see some examples of what we do.
Here is the link to the web page of the most important wood carving fair in the north west with a lot of pictures
LA FIERA DI SANT'ORSO LA FOIRE DE SAINT OURS LA VALLE D'AOSTA AOSTA LA CITTA' DELLA
LA FIERA DI SANT'ORSO LA FOIRE DE SAINT OURS LA VALLE D'AOSTA AOSTA LA CITTA' DELLA
and these are the north-est
Artists and members - UNIKA

If you want you can have a look to my gallery (link below), but I am a newbie

Finally, yes the Charactures are more typical of the new world...I don't know why.

Ciao

[Thor]

Thank you for posting those links Paolo. I very much enjoyed seeing the images.
Your gallery is a very impressive "newbie" gallery as well.
It is interesting to see the influence of comical figure carvings (read caricature) depicted in the European market that stems from artwork that has been evident for many centuries.

[Simplyme]

Who really cares what they think anyway? I have seen greater artist here then I have seen at some "Art Exhibits", Call it what you want, I will still love it.

I think they take things to serious......

And Lynn and many of you here, for what its worth.....I for one think that you are all "ARTIST"