CWA held its Fifty-First Wood carving show and competition on May 20 and 21, 2023 at the Scottish Rite Center in Sacramento. This year we returned to our favorite Scottish Rite venue –the Memorial Hall.
We were again pleased to have our friends from the Amador Gourd Artists and Folsom Gourd Artists participate in our show. Janice Horner served as a liaison to our club from the gourd patches. She also took on many other tasks during the show.
There were fifty-eight (58) wood carvings that were judged by Pat Moore. Twenty-nine (29) gourds were judged by Mary Hufft, Colleen Ballard, Sylvia Nelson, Barbara Cody, Susan De Guara, Pam Argo and Carol Des Voignes.
There are three wood carving levels: Novice, Advanced, and Expert, The gourd judging levels are Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Master. The major job of registering wood and gourd entries once again fell to Andy Hiroshima. Each entrant chooses the level they feel they best fit into and then chooses the category or categories for their piece(s). Each piece is examined by the show judges and may be awarded a blue, red, or white ribbon, based on the merit of the piece. All entries are on display during the show regardless of whether an award is given or not.
The big winners in the wood carving competition were Joe You, Best of Show with his clever set of six bearded faces with each one in the series having less facial hair, making the choice of title for the piece inevitable: “Hair Today Gone Tomorrow”. The terrible pun, notwithstanding, the faces, which are Joe’s Specialty, were engaging and brought a smile to the observers in the crowd.
Gourd artist Heather Hopman from Amador won “Best in Show” for her painted gourd which was a variety of frog species.
Alison Cook received Second Best of Show for a 2½ foot long cottonwood bark carving. The judge noted the level of detail and a design that featured a variety of textures, forms and shapes adding interest and variety to the piece. She also pointed out the value of having uncarved areas giving the observer a place to rest their eyes.
Brad Dano won Third Best of Show with a beautiful 15-inch-tall vase with staved-type construction of maple and padauk wood. The top was maple segmented with a compass inlay. Brad recounted that this vase evolved as he worked on it, resulting in this striking finished piece.
Heather Hopman from Amador won “Best in Show” for her painted gourd which was a variety of frog species.
Wood carving first place People’s Choice Award went to Joe You for his “Hai r today Gone Tomorrow” caricature. Gourd artist. eAndy Hiroshima won both second and third places.
Andy Hiroshima’s snake cane (top) earned second place people’s choice.
Andy Hiroshima’s third place people’s choice
For Gourds Bill Wilson (Folsom), won first in People’s choice Heather Hopman (from Amador) won the #2 spot for her painted gourd and Barbara Banholzer (Folsom) took third place.
The Club table featured literature, magazines and the Noah’s Ark project completed by members at Shirley’s Shop weekly carving sessions. Club members meet at Shirley’s, 4651 Moddison Ave, Sacramento on Mondays from 2- 5 PM and Saturdays from 10 AM-12 PM.
The club brought back the friendship cane. Andy Hiroshima made up a group of cubes with a hole through the center. These were distributed to club members. Each person carved the cube and then they were all assembled into a unique cane. A drawing among those who carved pieces yielded the lucky member who took the cane home. This year that privilege went to Ron Kremer.
Despite the smaller number of entries, the interest from carvers and visitors generated a high level of enthusiasm and interaction as evidenced by lots of noisy conversation.
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Andy Hiroshima at his display table. Beautiful work, eh? To see more of Andy’s work in his Gallery Andy serves as mentor to many club members, always giving freely of his time.
Ed Santarosa, shown at far left, displayed his rich collection of caricature carvings. He is particularly known for his Santa carvings. Ed is also the editor of the club newsletter “Sacramento Shavin’s’”
Long-time club member Nelson Krouse is known for his humorous caricature carvings.
Joanne Carroll displayed her beautiful pyrography and spent time with visitors telling the stories behind each picture and explaining wood burning techniques. To see more of her pyrography visit her gallery on the Santa Clara Valley Carvers website.
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Ken Morgan from Tri-Valley Woodcarvers shared his work at CWA Show 2023. It is great to share our love of wood carving with other clubs.
Roman Chernikov demonstrated chip carving and whittling at CWA Show 2023. Roman has been a major contributor to the CWA website development. Open Roman’s Gallery or visit his website about whittling and chip carving: https://readntry.com
After COVID restrictions it was nice to be able to see and appreciate the work of our fellow club members and guests again.
Tom Petersen and his pine knot carvings at the CWA show 2023. Living in Georgetown, Tom has a real focus on pine forests and these unique products from the core of the tree. He also carves cottonwood bark houses.
Alison Cook and some of her whimsical bark houses. Check out Alison Cook’s Gallery for more examples of her work. An attraction of carving cottonwood bark houses is that each house is different since each piece of bark is unique. She also enjoys the creative aspect of thee houses since there are not patterns and the wood reveals what it wants the house to be as carving proceeds.
Joe You sharing his insight with an attendee at the show. Joe is an outstanding caricature carver and member of the exclusive Caricature Carvers of America (CCA)
Brad Dano displayed his carving accomplishments. He is also an accomplished wood turner. For the past two years Brad has also provided our food concession during the show.
Peter Coombs, shown here at last year’s show, once again generously provided free tool sharpening for show participants.
The entries showed great diversity in both gourd art and wood carving.
The Country Store and the Silent Auction were the beneficiaries of generous donations from Gerry Sanders via her son Michael. There were many roughouts, blanks, finished carvings and painted pieces that were made available to show attendees through the Country Store. Some more elaborate finished carvings were added to the Silent Auction table. Libby Schram, Alice Bowles, Shirley Coffelt and Jannel Darroch efficiently ran the Country Store, and Joe You manned the Silent Auction..
For the major Raffle there was a wood carving and a decorative gourd as well as two gift baskets, one from the gourd artists and one from the wood carvers. Each contained gift certificates, wood or gourds, books, and tools.
Raffle prizes from left Nelson Krouse’s carved bust of a native woman, CWA Gift Basket, Janice Horner’s gourd, Gourd society gift basket.
Randy Moore once again brought a large amount of raw basswood, and cottonwood bark as well as roughouts, blanks and finished carvings created by his wife (and our judge), Pat.
Jim Russell demonstrated carving a wood spirit in a log during the show.
Nancy Longino took responsibility for the front desk check-in and was assisted by several volunteers. Our treasurer, Irene Huey, handled the money from all the different venues. Jim Veach was a great MC, announcing hourly draw winners, demos, and everything else that needed attention.
For the second year, a great benefit to our show was the food concession organized and run by Brad Dano with great help by Marilyn Phelps. Participants got a hot dog, macaroni salad, chips, a cookie, and a can of soda—for $5!! What a deal.
Pictures supplied by Ed Santarosa, Andy Hiroshima and Roman Chernikov
Thanks to the show committee: Alison Cook, Andy Hiroshima, Joe You, Janice Horner, Alice Bowles, Jim Russell, and Leroy Stebner.
Capital Woodcarvers Association 