Capital Woodcarvers Association

Featured CWA carver Joe You.  Like many members of our club, Joe grew up in Sacramento. He attended C.K McClatchy high school where he met his future wife, Chris, in home room.  Since Chris focused on English and Joe on science, they had few classes together outside of home room. Luckily, they went to the same church and eventually both went to UC Davis where they got to know each other better. Joe majored in botany and became a UC Master Gardener. After graduation from UCD he went to dental school at UOP. Halfway through Dental School Joe proposed to Chris and they were married in 1977.  Following Dental School, Joe had clinical placements in Elk Grove and on the Mendocino Coast (Joe’s favorite). Joe and a partner set up a practice in Elk Grove that they kept 42 years. I asked joe what reflections he had on his career.  He said, “I had the greatest patients in the world, great staff and I surrounded myself with great people.” Joe and Chris have three children. Two sons live in Elk Grove and their daughter lives in Sunnyvale, and they have six grandchildren.

Like other CWA members I have featured, Joe’s first club contact was at a CWA annual show at Country Club Plaza in 1993 or 94.  Joe was an artist and he loved wood; carving seem the ideal place to combine these two interests.  He was invited to a member’s house where he got a knife and some wood.  He started with a Santa carving, giving him his start with CWA He enjoyed making signs and carved one for the front of his house. One Saturday CWA member Bob Travis had an open house. He had a collection of caricature carvings being photographed for a magazine. This was Joe’s first exposure to caricature carving, and he was instantly hooked.  Here was a way to combine his interest in art with wood carvings that told a story. Bob was the education chair for CWA, and he arranged for many outstanding nationally recognized carvers to offer workshops in Sacramento. Joe eagerly took all the classes Bob scheduled, learning from some top names in caricature carving. The club also had a Rendezvous over the Labor Day Weekend. Four days of carving with instructors from across the country. Joe’s expertise grew rapidly. Bob Travis was also a founding member of the Caricature Carvers of America, an exclusive group of 25 members who are voted into membership when a vacancy occurs. He nominated Joe and Joe was admitted in 1999.

 Joe found that when he was asked to carve a face as a demonstration, it took him too long. His solution was practice, practice, practice, practice. Literally hundreds of faces later he now enjoys carving them and has developed techniques that he willingly shares with CWA members at our regular meetings.  When Joe was first elected to CCA he didn’t realize what an honor it was, but he soon realized that rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s best caricature carvers was an honor that he compared to Olympic Athletes learning from each other.

Joe has had some interesting experiences relating to his carving. CCA does various fund-raising events to support their organization. One of those was an on-line auction of carvings with each member providing one. Joe’s carving was purchased by a Canadian wood carver. Sometime later, Joe was in Canada and met the man who had bought his carving. Both men found it interesting to meet the person behind the name. Joe did a workshop in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  The members of the club there had obtained a design for one of Joe’s carvings and several had carved it.  It was a great feeling for Joe to see the club members versions of his design and to have been copied by the local carvers. As Oscar Wilde noted, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ….”. The carving that was copied is called “Balance” and is shown here.

I asked Joe about the value he sees in CWA. He said, “If it weren’t for the club, I wouldn’t be a woodcarver” then he added, “The purity of carving is just being in it for the joy.  The club is the place to go. Members support each other, and the annual show is always a highlight”. Over his years in the club, there have been lots of people come and go from whom he has learned. He owes a lot to the club. 

His advice to new carvers: “Choose something you are really interested in. Focus on it, and get really good at that. There is greater satisfaction in being really good at something than being mediocre at a lot of things.”

On one trip Joe was at a CCA meeting in a shop in Boise, Idaho. As he looked around at this great shop, he thought about carving at home in his garage where he froze in the winter and sweltered in the summer, so he decided to build a standalone shop in his backyard.  He designed what he wanted and got an architect to draw up plans. He hired an independent contractor who had constructed fairy tale cottages. The resulting shop is a wonderful space where he can work with power tools and his hand tools, do his painting, and create his fantastic caricature stories.  There is also space to display carving’s, some his and some by others. He included a table and chairs for fellow carvers to sit and exchange ideas. Joe generously included his shop in the CWA Shop Hop tour a few years ago.

Joe thought about including a bathroom for convenience.  Chris’s first question was, “Who’s going to clean it?” That was the end of that idea.  She named the shop “the Doghouse” so when people asked where Joe was, she could say, “He’s in the doghouse.” CCA does big projects that involve carvings by members. One street scene was brought to Joe’s shop in three pieces and assembled for a photo shoot. There was lots of black paint on the background and inevitably that led to black spots on the floor.  The spots are still there as a reminder of the project.

While Joe talks about the value he has gotten from the club, the Club has also benefited from his participation in many ways. He has served as President and has contributed to the annual show by running the silent auction and enhancing the exhibits by displaying his caricatures every year. Joe is also a willing and available mentor at club meetings and in his shop. We are fortunate to have a carver of his skill in our club.