Wood carvers hold exhibit at Indian Creek
The Indian Creek Carvers Club will be hosting wood carvers from all over the United States at the annual Wood Carving Exhibit on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Indian Creek Mobile Home Park, two blocks south of Summerlin Road in South Fort Myers.
The public is invited to attend the Indian Creek exhibit, presented by the Indian Creek Carvers. Attendees will be able to view prize winning carvings from recent competitions as well as completed projects and carvings in progress. Wood carving supplies and equipment will be available for purchase. The exhibit is free to the public.
“We’ll have people that come from all over,” said Chet Frye, the event coordinator and long-time wood carver. “Most of them come from the East coast, but we do have people who come from out west. A lot of them are snowbirds, and a few stay around here year-round. We’ve had this exhibit for about 20 years.”
The Indian Creek Carvers meet weekly throughout the year on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon and on Fridays during the same hours from January to April. During the regular club sessions, beginners can get instruction on technique or, if interested, watch advanced carvers enhance their skills. The regular tools used are knives, grinders and wood burners.
Frye, who shapes birds, barns, covered bridges and caricatures, not only carves at Indian Creek but at the Salvation Army (with the Caloosa Carvers of Cape Coral) on Wednesday mornings and at Estero Community Park on Wednesday afternoons. He has carved with an many as 65 people.
“Some bigger carvings take 500-600 hours, while smaller ones can be done in a week’s time,” said Frye.
Many meticulous pieces of wood-carved art were on display at the 2010 Florida Winter National Wood Art Expo & Competition at Harborside Events Center in Fort Myers during the weekend of Jan. 23-24. This event is regarded as one of the premier wood carving shows in the country since 1986.
Indian Creek Carver Joe Moran entered four pieces and collected three first places at the national competition.
“It’s a very nice hobby,” said Moran, who was carving an old man with a pipe caricature.
Harry Van Luvender, who has carved wood figures since roughly 1941, was applying the finishing touches on a “relief” which featured a resemblance of his daughter’s palomino horse.
“I started carving during World War II,” said Van Luvender. “I’m prejudice to palominos because Roy Rogers had one.”
For more information about the exhibit or the Indian Creek Carvers, call Frye at 826-5388.
“It’ll be a good chance to see some beautiful carvings,” said Frye. “The public is invited, and it’s free to see.”