SPLINTERS MAY. 1994
The merry month of May!! Yes it’s prom time all over
again with all of those intense anxieties, we’re all consumed with who is
taking whom to the prom. For all of those inquiring minds, we’ve got an early
scoop from “highly reliable sources”
Bob E. is taking Jim V. this year. Remember.. .you heard it first here
in “SPLINTERS”. Now for a little lighter news.
· Woman likes a man best who
has his own will—made out in her name
·
Next
to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income
tax refund.
·
Classified
add in the Knoxville Journal: “Used tombstone for sale. Ideal for a family named
Campbell”
·
They
used to say that the cheapest way to have your family tree traced was to run
for public office... That is unless you’re from Arkansas . . .where everyone has the same
family tree.
MAY MONTHLY MEETING
Keep an eye on that calendar! The
third Tuesday can sneak up on you! We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday
evening May 17 at 7:00 P.M.
Eugene Lawson promises to be there
with his saw collection ... last time involved unexpected visitors and lost phone
numbers .... that’s the short version. Be there!!
This should be a sharp program,
something you can set your teeth into, say you saw the saws.
We’ve been getting lots of excellent reports about
our Spring seminar. Approximately 22 people attended. We’re looking forward to
hearing more about this fine event at the next meeting. Thanks to all demonstrators, participants,
cooks and certainly the Eubanks for graciously hosting.
Carving Their Niche
Curled woodchips crunch underfoot as Bud Ellis leads
an impromptu tour through Horsin’ Around, his carousel carving school in Chattanooga.
A fantasia of wooden animals—an ostrich, bloodhound, rabbit, lion, giraffe,
fish, and a herd of horses— all big enough to straddle and ride, stand in
various stages of ‘emerging” from soft basswood. Some are mere outlines
sketched
on
rough blocks of wood. Others are scattered parts—heads over here, legs over
there, partially formed ears and knees and nostrils evident. A few are nearly
complete, their prancing positions forever fixed, playfully bright paints
drying. With calloused fingers, Ellis gently touches or points to each project,
identifying it with a brief comment about its creator.
“This horse is being carved by a fifth grade teacher, this one by a truck driver,” he says. “A guy who runs a sheet metal shop is working on that horse, a 61-year-old socialite the next. The lion is by a computer operator. The ~ dog is a cake decorator’s. The rabbit is by an airplane mechanic who ~ plans to start a pig next. ‘Fhe giraffe is my wife’s.”
Such
is the menagerie—both of carvings and the people behind them—at Horsin’ Around,
a warehouse-sized workshop where dreams come true. Among the many others who
squeeze in carving time, there are a nurse, a band director (Kyle Howard, shown
above), a surgeon, a therapist, a banker, and a policeman.
Ellis,
a 57-year-old high school art teacher, became interested decades
ago in antique carousel
figures, the kind he rode as a child. Like other carousel fans, he was drawn to
works by the legendary Dentzels, a family of German-American carvers whose last
workshop closed in 1929. Original Dentzel pieces, restored or otherwise,
command high prices among collectors, higher than he could afford on a
teacher’s pay. So he set out to carve his own.
He visited wood-carvers who ight shed light on the
Dentzels’ process. He restored antique pieces for collectors, practiced carving
every chance he got, and gradually
pieced together the needed techniques. Envisioning a revival in carousel carving, and with help from his wife, Johnnie, and his son, Chris, he opened Horsin’ Around.
More
than 50 fellow carousel enthusiasts now study under Ellis to learn skills he .has
spent most of his adult life acquiring. All share a fondness for old-time
carousels, most are unable to afford the antiques they admire, so they carve
their own. Some spend months of evenings and weekends in the wQrkshop, tapping
chisels with wooden mallets, slowly coaxing their fantasies from the wood.
Others bend to the task during a solid two weeks of vacation. Ellis even arranges
a form of financial aid. A benefactor pays a student carver’s tuition ($550 to
$1,050), then keeps the finished piece, allowing the student to learn at no
cost.
“We
try to do everything the old way, to re-create the craftsmanship that made
those old pieces so valuable,” Ellis says. “The parts are held together with
wooden pegs and glue, not nails. Paint is applied with stencil
brushes, not airbrushes,
to produce a richer texture.” When students are carving, Ellis strolls the
room, answering questions, demonstrating the use of tools, making suggestions.
His perennial optimism shores up any flagging enthusiasm.
Visitors
are welcome to drop by, look around, talk with carvers, and recall their own
childhood memories of colorful carousels. Those smitter. with a need to create
their own can sign up for classes. Joe
Radii
Horsin’
Around lies 1½ miles south of 1-24 in downtown Chattanooga. Follow signs to
Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, and look for carousel animals in the
upstairs windows of a gray warehouse nearby, between Tennessee Avenue and St.
Elmo Avenue. Visitors are welcome from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
Groups are asked to arrange visits so as not to disrupt instructions. For more
information write Horsin’ Around, 3804 St. Elmo Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee
37409; call (615) 825-5616.