When Is A Woodcarving No Longer A Woodcarving?

[Lynn O. Doughty]

As it's been a couple of weeks since I last stirred the surface around here, maybe this new post will cause a few ripples and some serious discussion.

Here is a comment that was posted on my thread about making snow:

"Lynn,
I aint never and don't plan to enter a carving competetion, But i was a wondering. do the judges take down points from your carving for not being carved from one piece of wood , and do they say anything negative about using props ( wire not wood ,cloth not wood , etc)."

In a word....."YES!"

For some strange reason, as in almost every area of craft, art, you name it, those who consider themselves the "cream of the crop" start making up rules for the rest of us. Even though they themselves may stray from these rules that's okay...remember, they're the "cream of the crop"! Sounds sort of like what goes on in a certain city on the Potomac!

People have ask me about judging shows and I don't even hesitate in telling them NO! The reason for this is that if there were a group of carvings spread out before me it would take me about 10 seconds to pick the winner! I would immediately pick the one that appealed to me the most. How that piece was made would play no part in my decision whatsoever. I would assume that just by it's being on the table it had already passed all the necessary rules to qualify for that certain category.

Years ago I took my Stage Coach scene to the AWC show in Iowa. It took a lower place ribbon but the judges advised that the reason they didn't consider it for the higher one was that they didn't like 'assembleges". Hmmmm....don't remember seeing that requirement on the entry form! I think what they didn't really like was this upstart coming out of nowhere with a piece that deviated from the norm and that the public seemed to like more than what they liked.

For some reason people seem to like my carvings. Even though they might be 'assembleges'. They don't care if that Cowboy is holding a wire lasso they just know that it really looks good. They don't care if that hat on his head was carved seperately they just know that ii really looks like the wrangler actually placed it on his head! An actual leather headstall and metal bit in the horses mouth? Plastic coffee dripping from a cup? Real metal coiled springs on the Soiled Dove's bed? What is this guy trying to do? CHANGE WOODCARVING AS WE KNOW IT?

Again, in a word.....YES!

Hey! I'm certainly not the first carver who used or uses items in his scenes and pieces that are not actually part of the main piece. But I am one of the few who is not afraid of saying loudly that I do and gladly explain just how I go about it. I certainly can't make you do things the way I do and I'd be a fool to think I could. All I want is a chance to show some of you who may be interested another way to accomplish certain things that I've found to help me get the result that I'm after.

Each year I make a trip to Santa Fe to tour the galleries and make note of what the market is up to and what the various artists are doing. A number of the galleries are owned by the artist and there are usually several "works in progress" on display. Sometimes I'm literally blown away at the techniques they use that aren't associated with clay or wax in any way. I often wonder if Rodin, Michaelangelo, or any other classical sculptor would be turned off by these new, corrupting influences. I can pretty well assume that a sculptor like Charlie Russell would welcome them as he blazed a few paths away from the norm himself and the art world is much better for it. I personally think that the worst thing we can do for our craft is to get bogged down by tieing stones around our necks with ridiculous rules of what really constitutes a woodcarving. While I like to compete my real goal is to produce a piece that appeals to the person looking at it. While I think I have accomplished this I certainly don't plan on resting on any laurels I may have but will continue looking for new ways to making it even more appealing

So there you have my views on this matter. And to any judges or others out there who think they and those like them are the ones who should determine the direction of this craft I offer the following:

" .................................!!!!"

[Juhani]

The only words I have are that if anything in this world is subjective, art is. Granted I haven't carved for long and have never been to a carving competition or seen any paperwork that one would need to enter a show, this is how I see carving....as an art.

[kcwaterguy]

Hey, we are fighting that at several local shows here too Lynn with Gouge Chip Carving. They are finally getting it in... sometimes only in the Chip Carving category. I am not sure why my art using GOUGES (hmmm that is a woodcarving tool right?) is not accepted? Maybe because it is a simple technique that anyone can learn and master.... those who are "creams of the crop" might get bumped out huh?

Oh wow... my soap box almost got too big for my britches so I decided to end it there.

Sean - KC

[Scott Hagerty]

Lynn
I think your assemblages are really great. Having said that, and having no experience in competition, I think as long as a piece fits the rules laid down by the sponsoring organization it should be judged by it's merit. So what if you use wire for the rope or leather for the bridle, to me it is the execution of the concept that should be judged. However, I wouldn't want to see things degenerate into wood manikins dressed in clothes or other such.

My 2 cents!!
Scott

[GaryMc]

Hm.... Lynn I happen to agree with you, but in other art areas there is such a thing as mixed media, and I wonder if the judges thinking that your style would fall under that. Just a thought.
GaryMc

[Coldwood]

Lynn, I think it was the jazz musician Count Basie who said something similar about music: "If it sounds good, it is good."

[Mitchell]

Lynn, I don't mean any offense, but your work is more sculpture than just woodcarving. It's wonderful and you can do much more with your assembleges than most folks. You have taken the art to another level.

Does it matter? Suppose it does for a "carving contest". For "art" - not one bit.

Unfortunately, for you (and others) - traditional woodcarving shows would be limiting because they do have "rules" about non-wood items.....well, except for bird carvings which SOMETIMES allow non wood items for eye and legs. The more prestigous shows have special rules on those items too.

IF the rules could be changed, where WOOD the line be drawn (pun intended)? And how could it be managed?

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Well guess that lets the old european masters out as they "assembled" chunks of wood to get the size they needed....still do! Fish carvers, bird carvers..about everyone uses materials other than just wood..and the only one that comes to mind that uses just wood and one piece is Marv Kaisersatt!

[DADDIO]

lynn good points before getting into carving i've always painted or drawn or built things,part of my contention has always been there isn't right or wrong in art...it's art it's what you create.. as with carvings people can offer suggestions as to how something could or should be done and you can accept that and use it or you can say well this is how i intended it to be so it's right in my eyes,when i first started carving i had read several stories on shows and the assembleges thing and so i kind of stuck to single piece cavings.because there was no one local to influence me i guess i soon said to heck with it and started doing the scenes i do the first being a hillbilly watching a still,the still i made out of copper and wire then carved seprate bucket and dipper and fire harth,it's still one of my favorites i took it to a club meeting,the club meets once a month about 100 miles away from where i live,and people loved it!! and i thought then hey it's what makes me happy and from what i've seen most people, regular people ,not judges,enjoy the piece for what it is not that it's one piece of wood or not and whether tha's a piece of copper wire for a bucket handle. man have fun and do what you want to,that's what it's about to me...long winded i know but there's my 10 cents worth!!

[AlArchie]

I agree with Rbert on this one...if there is anything completely subjective in this world, it is ART. OK, crafts, too.....if you like it, you like it! If ya don't, ya don't. Ad in either case you don't really care what it's called.

A lot of the big carving competitions are judged by strict rules....OK, you know the rules (or should) when you enter these particular contests. The folks who set these up have worked on the rules and as long as it's their show, they can have whatever rules they want. If we want to change the rules, either get together with them and work on it or start your own show.

There seems to be a little fudge room in all of these competitions, though. It seems to be OK to carve waterfowl decoys from two pieces (head and body) then glue the two together, and fill the neck gap with some kind of putty. Some allow comercial pewter feet in "carving" of realistic birds, others allow metal and filler to be used as long as the creator of the piece does ALL the work himself. BUT, the competition rules usually state how much "fudge" is allowed. My fish are usually carved from one piece (after I cut some of that piece off to make the fins with). Then I put them back together so they look like a fish. Like it or not, it's still "assembled". And if I'm painting the fish, I'll use filler around the insertion points. Natural finished carvings I just take a lot more time to fit the fins as inconspicuosly as possible, but it's still assembled. I've also see some extremely impressive carvings done with the fins carved as an integral part of the body. Either way seems to work at the shows.

As far as I can see, Lynn's carvings (assembledges????) are in a class by themselves. Who cares, what he uses to create them, they are superb pieces of art.

Maybe he can't "compete" with non-assembled carvings.......who cares? Not me!

Al