Capital Woodcarvers Association

Andy Hiroshima and Alison Cook, traveled back to Doane UIniversity in Crete, Nebraska in 2019 and participated in the Doane Experience.  Here is their account of their trip.

Andy:

My Doane Experience began February 1^st at12:00 PM. This is when I received the application for attending the Doane Nebraska Experience.  I had heard that if you don’t get your application in early you may not have your first class of your choice or perhaps your second or third choices either.  This information came from a reliable source, Bob Travis, CCA Founding Member and instructor at Doane.

I have been hearing that this was a carving experience that all wood carvers should try at least once. There are members of our club that have been there as many as 7 times perhaps more, and their experiences at Doane has been a real asset to their carving life.  They told me that carving at Doane was like going back to college in their Freshman year as far as living in the dorm at night. 

While I was there, I met many very nice people who told me when they first went to Doane, they stayed in the dorm and the bathroom was 75 steps from their room.  This was important because when they woke up at night, they would count their steps so they knew they were in the right place.  Of course, they had to count to 75 to get back to the right room.

There were people from 29 states and several from Canada.  4 people were from Calif. Two from Sacramento Alison Cook and myself.  In total there were 136 students at this years’ experience.

I’m guessing that much has change because, although I stayed in the dorm, there were three bedrooms, each had two beds, one common area, very comfortable, one bathroom with two sinks, one toilet and two showers.  It was very comfortable, I elected to have my own room and it was suggested that you submit your application quickly while you have a choice. In my case there was one other person who chose to have his own room.  There were  two people in the dorm room and one bathroom. Perfect.

The food was very good, not great, but tasty and lots of variety for the picky eater.  Let me say, if you leave hungry, it’s your fault.

Carving: I chose to do was a Standing Moose, taught by Linda Curtis, excellent teacher.  There are 10 people in the class, and we had a wonderful time.  We worked hard, laughed hard and carved a lot. There were 14 different classes you could choose, there was something for everyone.

While we were at dinner, we heard many stories from the past. One particular story hit home for both Alison and me.  There were 8 people sitting at our table, and we had a good laugh at the expense of our good friend who was not there to defend himself, but he is infamous.   The story goes, he was carving and while he was talking, he was waving his hand around and accidently cut his ear. Well this was embarrassing enough but the next day, while he was carving, he was explaining what happened the day before he held the knife in his other hand.  Yup, he cut his other ear.  A special award was given to him at the end of the session, it was a set of large earmuffs.   The story lives on in the annals of Doane.

In conclusion, I had a great time, enjoyed the class and students.  I met a lot of very interesting people and made new friends, which carving is all about, yes, carving is a good conversation starter.

Think about attending.  If you have never been there or if it is your 10^th time, it will be an excellent experience.

Alison

Andy has summarized the general information well.  L also requested a single room and made sure my application was post marked February 1 (the same day I got the package). My arrangement was like Andy’s but with more people.  There were 5 rooms in our suite.  They appear to be double rooms during the school year and one of ours did have two women who came together. The rest were singles.  We also had two sinks and two shower stalls, and two toilets shared by six people surprisingly, there were few, if any conflicts around shower times or other bathroom time in the morning.  Three of my suite mates were from Wisconsin, one from Iowa and two of us were from California.  Most of the others were taking chip carving so we didn’t see much of each other except at meals.

I agree with Andy’s appraisal of the food.

Not surprisingly, I choose bark carving, called Bark-a-tecture, taught by Ken Armsberry and Norm Minske.  We had six participants of pretty much the same level of experience and skill. I learned some new techniques and completed a carving over the course of the week.  It was fun learning from both the instructors and the other participants. Of course, I ended up “needing” two new tools that they were happy to sell to me.

All-in-all it was a good experience. The campus is pretty, the people were very nice (and often funny) and the learning experience was good. I really didn’t realize just how much corn there is in Nebraska. I swear they plant the stalks an inch apart.  Amazing view of” America’s Heartland” driving across Nebraska. All in all, it was a luxury to carve for 5 days straight in such pleasant surroundings with such nice people.  However, my hand did complain bitterly the next week.

I second Andy’s suggestion to think about attending. They have been doing this for 43 years and have it down to a smooth operation.  What a great way to spend a week in July—carving in the middle of cornfields (sort of).