About the Chainsaw Artist

I grew up in rural northwest Wisconsin, where I currently reside, and I have always had a deep love for nature, wildlife, and the great outdoors.. I believe I was born with a God given artistic gift, which I am very thankful for, and I have been drawing and designing things since at least age four. Pencil drawing was the main way that I artistically expressed myself for most of my life. After High School I took further education for art and I have a couple of certificates and a degree, but up to this point I had no interest at all in sculpture. I did not know what I wanted to do after college. I ended up working at a furniture shop for 4 years and put all of my artistic ambitions on the back burner. I do not remember exactly what my first inspiration was, but the first thing I remember is an advertisement in a magazine for a dremel tool grinder. It listed all of the things you could do with it. One thing they listed was carve wood. My grandfather gave me an old dremel he had, and that started it all for me. That was in about 1999. I started making a couple tiny carvings, and then was inspired to make larger wood sculptures. I had never seen any chainsaw carvings in my life as far as I can remember, and I did not know where to start. I did not even know what tools I would need to carve with. Then I saw a chainsaw carver for the first time at a local fair, and I went out and immediately bought a small chainsaw. Using a fallen tree in a neighbor's forest, I carved my first chainsaw wood sculpture, a five foot bear. You can see a picture of it on my previous carvings page. That is where my wood sculpture career started. I have been carving full time since 2001.