A talented group of wood carvers have been meeting and creating beautiful works of art at the United Methodist Church of Sheepshead Bay, at 3087 Ocean Avenue, since February and shared some of their latest creations with the Canarsie Courier on Saturday, April 26th.
“Brooklyn Wood Carvers is the first club in Brooklyn,” main organizer of the group and longtime area resident Donald Quigley said. “We have clubs in Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, Nassau County, Suffolk County, and this is the first club in Brooklyn.”
Quigley starts new members off with a simple project. He draws a flower on a small block of wood and instructs members on how to use the wood carving tools properly to make a relief carving, which is the process of cutting into the design so that it appears to protrude from the wood.
There are many suitable types of wood, but Quigley mainly uses wood from the linden tree called basswood, which he purchases from a wholesaler in the Bronx.
After the initial project, members can do whatever they like. “We have different people doing different things for the group,” Quigley said. “We have whittlers, wood burners, relief carvers and anybody who is working with wood in any way.”
Many of the members were part of senior-focused community groups in Downtown Brooklyn who wanted to join the wood carving group. Newcomers are helped by Quigley and their fellow wood carvers, creating a sense of camaraderie and community.
“Wood carving activates the brain cells and makes you think,” he said of just one of the many benefits of wood carving. He noticed how people who came in with tension were more relaxed over time.
“We teach each other,” Gregory Anderson said. He felt that wood carving was a dying art in the United States compared to Europe and what they were doing was keeping the art of wood carving alive. He would like to see people recognize it more as a fine art.
Others spoke about the therapeutic aspects and satisfaction they get from wood carving. In addition to the thought process and concentration needed to work on the various pieces that helps keep the mind sharp, other benefits of wood carving were strengthening of fine motor skills, socialization, the emotional and spiritual satisfaction of creating something personal for themselves or for others.
“It’s not cookie cutter and people are allowed to have personal expression,” Laurella Sapp said. “Even though the common material is the wood that they are working with, that gets transformed into the manifestation of each person’s personality and that’s what you see.”
The group has been steadily growing since it started about three months ago and currently has 17 members who meet on the first, third and fifth Saturdays of the month. They pay $20 dues for four months to cover costs of tools, materials and activities like raffles. Quigley says that some will sell or show their work, but most will keep them as a labor of love for themselves or as gifts.
Quigley is a member of the church, which is Sheepshead Bay’s oldest standing church. It was built in the mid-to late 19th century with two tall church steeples and impressive Victorian Gothic architectural design. Korean Methodist and Russian Orthodox congregations also share the space. To join the Wood Carvers Group, contact Quigley at 917-854-7497.
