The photo above is entitled “The Journey” by Ivan Snyder.  I first met Ivan last year at the Buckeye Woodcarving Round Up near Piqua, Ohio.  He was sitting in my informal class of carving small figures concentrating of facial features.  After a while he showed me a few of his small carvings that jumped right up and shook my hand.  They were alive with imagination and personality and as I got to know Ivan more during the next couple of days of class we became kindred brothers of miniature carvings.  Below are photos of the carvings he showed me.

His carving journey started in 2008 when a co-worker gave Ivan a block of wood and an old Murphy knife.  From their he advanced to study with Pete LeClair and Marv Kaisersatt in 2010.  In 2012 he experienced a detached retina caused by an accident and began to carve again in 2013 during retirement due to eye injury.  His carving of a cottonwood bark fantasy house received a Best of Show at the Conewago Carvers Carving show.

From there he advanced to carving small figures (one-inch square and ¾ inch square). He says that the carving process must be fun in the process so follow the whim of imagination or wild imagination.  “Whimys” are where the Whim takes you and he has a lot of Whims to show for his carving imagination.  Gary Falin and Chris Hammack were a big influence upon his carving journey.  Below are some photos of where he whims have taken him.

In his own words he describes his journey ~ When I first started carving my own figures, I started small rather than large for a few reasons.  I wanted to save some time by working on smaller carvings and focus on trying to maximize the figures movement in a smaller block of wood.  Some did not work out although I was able to change the design and save a few.  Perhaps part of the motivation to not start with larger size wood comes from my childhood.  Many of us can relate as I can still hear my parents saying, “what do you think, it grows on trees?”  Well in this case ‘yes, it does’.

Also, I intend to put a very small printed sign on my type tray giving it the title “The Journey.”  The significance being what I learned from the carvings themselves and from carvers along the way from beginning to completion.  A total of about 21 months.

The photos below are three segments of the type tray that invite a visual journey of the journey Ivan is traveling.

The final photo is Ivan’s table display at the Conewago Carvers Show October 26 and 27, 2019 that shows more of his carvings.  Be amazed just as I am at this carver from Long Island, NY who is known for his “Cousin Ivan’s Cheesecake” ~ Yummy ~  YUM.