Women and Wood Carving

[susieq]

Wow, what a great thread.... Thanks for starting this, Susan. You are right about wood carvers. They have accepted women into their ranks without so much as a raised eyebrow. But the folks who come through the woodcarving shows, not so much. The first time I displayed my work at a show, all day long, every guy who stopped to talk at my table, started out by saying the same thing. "did your husband do this?" All these years later, it still happens once in a while....I just laugh it off. What else can you do. I could get up on my soap box and say, "not only am I a carver, I am a second generation carver, my mother was a carver". But I don't really want to get started and scare people away...lol.

I have also done a bunch of other artistic things.....it's amazing how much like carving, custom leather tooling is. It is relief carving, in a way. I thought I had found my lifetime niche' in stained glass until wood carving came along. Now I know that wood carving is what I will be doing for as long as I live. Everything else lasted about 10 years before I got restless and looked for something else to do. I have been carving since 92, so I am fairly sure this is it.

Thanks again for this thread.

[Irish]

Oh Susie ... I never said it was perfect yet ... Big Grin ... but it is getting better every year.

Those that are in the craft in a serious way have come to accept without hesitation that the carver is either a man or woman. Those just coming in often assume it is the man but quickly find out that about one half of the carvers are women.

We are showing up more and more as selling carvers, teachers, authors, studio owners and website owners. We are showing up at the shows and at the local club meetings.

And ... as I am still in several different medias, especially in the fine arts side, the wood carving community is the VERY BEST!

Susan

[Larry Bev]

Please don't start another thread such as this,I lost a good hours sleep tonight could not stop reading.

[BobD]

I'm guessing your comment's a bit tongue in cheek...right Larry? <GRIN>


Bob