Woodcarvers create ‘green’ art

Wood is used from trees that have fallen or from old barns that are torn down.

ATHENS, Ohio (AP) — They were “green” before the practice was cool.

Woodcarvers — eking out a living in pole barns, woodsheds and two-story workshops scattered throughout rural southeastern Ohio — have forgone the lure of the city and a more profitable market to pursue their craft close to the trees that provide their livelihood.

For many, the creation of “green” art — pieces spun from hardwoods with a focus on sustainability — is just common sense.

“Green is the current hook word,” said Rick Duff, a 57-year-old furniture maker from Athens.

“But we live in one of the greatest hardwood forests in the world. It’s difficult to grab on to that thought as something new and exciting.”

For years, Duff has harvested from his farm the wood with which he works.

“It’s an important aspect of what I do.”

Wulf Reinicke, a 59-year-old furniture maker from Stockport, uses a team of horses to pull downed logs — but not as a gimmick, he said, to draw interest from starry-eyed tourists.

The horses are required by the topography: The hilly terrain around his farm isn’t always accessible by tractor.

“A lot of times, people will call me up who have a downed tree on their property,” he said. “They want me to saw it up and make them something out of it.”

Such a story is commonly heard from rural woodworkers who have spent years perfecting their craft.

Word gets around — and they return from errands to find logs left in their driveways.

Gerald Meyer, 56, is more of a scavenger.

The spalted, or partially rotted, wood he uses for his decorative jewelry boxes comes from what other people have thrown away or intended to burn.

A favorite source for the Millfield woodcarver: collapsed barns.

“What fascinates me is that connection to the people who first used the wood — their craftsmanship,” Meyer said.

The decision to live and work in the woods they love sometimes translates into a financial hardship for artists toiling in the foothills of Appalachia.

Many have joined the fledgling nonprofit group Art of Ohio, an offshoot of the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks that showcases the carvers on its Web site (www.artofohio.com).

Thomas Bennett, who for 20-plus years has run a custom-cabinet business on 10 acres in the hills west of Athens, credited his recent partnership with the program for helping to take his more-creative work to the world.

“We have to make that trade-off,” the 53-year-old said — “to sell for less because we want to live and work here.”

With pieces by other artists priced on the Internet at thousands of dollars, Bennett warmed to the idea.

Buyers from as far away as Texas and California have snatched up goods from some of the carvers.