Photo Trail of a Commission Carving

(Click on each photo to enlarge)

The carving of Jackie Robinson was done as a commission piece for a very good friend.  The initial research photo shows Jackie before he made baseball and racial reconciliation history when he became of member of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Besides excelling in athletic ability, Jackie excelled more in character and courageous humility in breaking the color barrier in professional sports and opened the way to better racial understanding.  Other photographs were used in the research that were found on the Internet through a Google search. This stage of the research gave information on the colors of a Dodger uniform, Jackie’s number “42” and various views of his facial features.

During this research period one’s creative spirit works with one’s sub conscious facilitator to begin the carving process in one’s mind long before a tool begins to shape a block of wood.  This creative tension continues through out the carving process as the piece begins to take shape to correspond with a mental image.

A carving is always an interpretation of the subject being carved rather than an exact photographic reproduction.  Thus this carving a Jackie Robinson is an artistic interpretation by the WOOD BEE CARVER who considers each carving as a new journey on the road called “woodcarving.”

“Woodcarving is the journey more than the destination,” meaning that it is what is experienced while one is carving that fulfills what is inside the carving spirit.  The destination or completed carving becomes the responsibility of the one who commissioned the carving which in this case, Jackie Robinson is at home in a new dug out.