Will Hayden is an Emeritus Member of the Caricature Carvers of America who continues to carve as often as his health allows him to do so. This photo shows that he still is on the “cutting edge” of creativity. THANKS to Will for all his contributions to the carving world and for still sharing his good sense of humor through his carvings. Carve on Will Hayden.
The Mystic Carvers Club hosted a three day seminar with three Caricature Carvers of America members over the Memorial Day weekend. It is called a CCA Carve-A-Long East for carvers living in the Northeast. It was held at the beautiful W. Alton Jones environmental camp of the University of Rhode Island. Students rotate among the three instructor for a one day class with each instructor. This year the instructors were Mitch Cartledge of North Carolina, Bruce Henn of Ohio and Don Mertz of Ohio.
The class I taught was the A-B-C’s of Face carving with a choice of subjects between a shelf squatter, a bust or an egg noggin. As part of the instruction the “Three Version Face Stick” was central to learning about opening up a block of wood to carve a face. Using only a knife to make slicing cuts each student learned a new appreciation for the knife as a carving tool. A one day class is always intense with so much to learn in such a small amount of time that goes so fast and yet each student survived. Read the rest of this entry »
JESSE of the animated movie Toy Story series is an animated cartoon character. Carving JESSE as a caricature of a cartoon character is a reversal of what is commonly understood about caricatures. A caricature is an exaggeration of realism that sometimes appears to be almost a cartoon interpretation of the real thing. Caricatures and cartoons are separate forms of art and interpretations while having similar characteristics. Caricature carvers often will study cartoon drawing as reference for exaggerating a realistic human face and figure. Sometimes a caricature carving will tell a cartoon like story in its visual appearance. That said, a caricature is still a caricature and a cartoon is still a cartoon standing on their own merits.
A caricature carving is intentionally designed and carved to be a caricature in order to emulate a humorous visual story. A caricature is never a carving that has turned out bad, thus making it a caricature as is so often said by an amateur carver who says, “If this carving does not turn out to be a realistic cowboy at least it can be a caricature cowboy.” A bad carving does not make a caricature even though a poorly designed and carved caricature can become a bad carving.
A caricature is determined by either its style or theme. Andy Anderson, Emil Janel and Harold Enlow wrote the book, so to speak , on a style in caricature carvings inspiring carvers to learn a style of caricature carving. But within that style of caricature carving there developed the theme of caricature carving which has branched out into many other styles of caricature carving. Some caricature carvings are very exaggerated while others are very subtle in their caricaturization, thus remaining true to the theme more than the style of certain types of caricature carving.
Read the rest of this entry »
HELVIE KNIVES of Tipton, Indiana has invited members of the Caricature Carvers of America to carve a caricature into a specially designed basswood handle of a Helvie Knife as a display collection. Several CCA members have already carved a handle to highlight the great variety of caricature theme that can be carved. The photograph at the left shows a few of them together while additional photographs that follow will show two views of each individual knife already in the Helvie Knives display collection.
Helvie Knives have become very popular with many carvers with multicolored handles as well a cherry handles with a variety of handle shapes from which to choose. Some of the CCA members also have autographed their signature collection of knives. Read the rest of this entry »
Larry Baldridge of Cadet, Mo was presented a CCA Merit Award at the Artistry in Wood Show, Dayton, OH on November 13, 2010. The Award is presented to a carver who exemplifies the art of caricature carving and as an encouragement for the advancement of caricature carving. Left to right in the presentation photograph are CCA Members Joe Shumacher, Bruce Henn, Floyd Radigan, Award Recipient Larry Baldridge, Jack Williams and Don Mertz.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read the rest of this entry »
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Hammack, who is the newest member of the Caricature Carvers of America, rides again by returning to teaching woodcarving seminars. Following several successful years of operating his own casting business of carved subjects and supplying sculpted subjects for the gift industry, Chris is devoting more of his time to his first love of not only creating unique woodcarving art for his valued collectors but also teaching his art to other woodcarving enthusiasts. Read the rest of this entry »
Don Ward of Middletown, Ohio received a Caricature Carvers of America Merit Award on March 6 at the Miami Valley Woodcarving Show. The Merit Award is being presented by CCA members Bruce Henn and Don Mertz in recognition of Don Ward excelling in the art of Caricature Carving.
Don has been a long time member of the Miami Valley Wood Carvers and actively promoting and encouraging woodcarving through club activities and carving shows. Preceding the week end show, Don was a student of the three day caricature carving seminar taught by Bruce Henn in which he carved a caricature cowboy. Read the rest of this entry »
The Mystic Carvers Club hosted a three day seminar with three Caricature Carvers of America members over the Memorial Day weekend. It is called a CCA Carve-A-Long East for carvers living in the Northeast. It was held at the beautiful W. Alton Jones environmental camp of the University of Rhode Island. Students rotate among the three instructor for a one day class with each instructor. This year the instructors were Mitch Cartledge of North Carolina, Bruce Henn of Ohio and Don Mertz of Ohio.
