[Woodcarver] More Info about Woodcarving Festival

[Jeffrey H Pretz]

Lancaster County WoodCarvers'

40th Annual Woodcarving & Wildlife Art Festival

Student Memorial Center, Millersville University, Millersville, PA 

March 23-24, 2013. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. & Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Free Parking                               Festival Admission: $5.00

 

Some Questions and Answers about our 40th Annual WoodCarving Festival

 

Why was the show started? 

The first show was to display the talent of the members of the club and to
create more interest in the art of woodcarving.

 

Where was the first show held? 

The Brobst Recreation Hall in Lititz was the home of the first regular
yearly show. Before this there were other various events where the club
showed their art which actually began in June of 1971 with a month long
display in Barr's Book Store in Lancaster.

How has it expanded since 1974?  

Over the years the show has expanded to include exhibits by carvers and
wildlife artist by members and non-members of the club. We also have added
vendors who sell supplies used by woodcarvers. The show has grown larger and
the venue has moved a various times over the years due to space needs and
costs ( since we are a non-profit organization!).

 

Along the timeline a system of competition and awards was created to
encourage our members and exhibitors to improve their skills and to
recognize the skills and artistic value of wood carvings.  

 

We have also added door prizes of carvings created by members and a silent
auction of items donated by exhibitors and club members.

 

We also as a club project, create and raffle off for the benefit of SOAR (
Support our American Recruits) a table with a quilt top on the theme of
"Pennsylvania Wildlife."

 

To recognize a member's distinctive contribution to wood carving and the
club, a "John Herrington Award" was created in honor of the club founder.
This year we will be honoring a member with this award at our Festival /
show on Saturday afternoon.

 

Along the history we have added demonstrations by various members and guest
on different aspects or kinds of carving.

 

In conjunction with our local publisher, Fox Chapel Publishing, their
Woodcarving Illustrated magazine staff will host a display and sponsor a
demonstration area called "Spit & Whittle" as well as assist in providing
demonstrators during the Festival.

 

We are now also giving exhibit tables to other area woodcarving clubs for
them to publicize their group and their events, such as:

American National Cane Club (ANCC) will have an exhibit of carved canes.
ANCC is a sister club that meets monthly in Lancaster County as well and
focuses on canes and walking sticks.

Conewago Carvers will have an exhibit of their club members. Conewago
Carrvers is another sister club which is very active west of the Susquehanna
River, meeting in East Berlin. 

West Shore Woodcarvers will also have an exhibit of their club members. West
Shore Woodcarvers is another sister club which is very active west of the
Susquehanna River, Hamton Twp, Cumberland Co.

 

How many Lancaster WoodCarvers members and guests participate in the show,
and in what capacities? 

Our club membership numbers about 70 individuals this year. Most of them
will at least attend the Festival. Some will have exhibits of their
carvings. Others will handle the setting up the festival space, helping
exhibitors carry their materials in for display and then back to their
vehicles, the admission table, the competition entries, the judging, helping
special guests like our feature carvers have a break by manning their
exhibit, and manning our club table with information about our club and
other clubs in the state and surrounding states and general information
about our club and activities. 

 

Our Show Chair works hard to recruit and register and manage the exhibitors
and vendors and the whole event including the competition and our Club
Banquet. Our Publicity Chair also works a few hours trying to promote the
Festival in a variety of media and venue. 

 

Who are the special guests this year and why are they important? 

To mark our 40th Annual Festival we have 6 Featured Carvers!

 

Wayne Barton is a internationally known Chip Carver. Wayne has a regular
column in the National Wood Carvers of America's magazine: Chip Chats. Learn
about Wayne Barton at  <http://www.chipcarving.com/about_wayne.htm>
www.chipcarving.com/about_wayne.htm. We are indeed honored to have Wayne
with us year. "Wayne is the founder of The Alpine School of Woodcarving,
Ltd., the oldest establishment in North America specializing in, and
dedicated to the education, training, teaching, and encouragement of chip
carving. ... He has developed the finest and the most popular chip carving
knives used by more carvers than any other knives." Wayne is the author of
several fine books on Chip Carving which are considered the best books on
the subject and are published by Sterling Publishing.

 

Bruce Henn is a nationally known Caricature Carver and a member of the
prestigious Caricature Carvers of America ( a select group of the best 25
caricature carvers in America) Check out the CCA website
<http://www.cca-carvers.org/> www.cca-carvers.org  Bruce has appeared on the
TV program American Woodshop, a PBS program featuring Scott Phillips as the
host. Bruce is returning again this year as our feature carver.

 

Dennis & Susan Thornton are a team of carver and painter. Dennis is also a
nationally known Caricature Carver and a member of CCA. Check out the
Thornton site:  <http://www.splintersandsplatters.com/>
www.splintersandsplatters.com The Thorntons were our featured carvers last
year. Dennis has been published in Woodcarving Illustrated.

 

Bob Stadtlander is known as a relief carver.  Check out Bob at
<http://www.stadtlandercarvings.com/> http://www.stadtlandercarvings.com
Bob has been exhibiting and a vendor for several years now. It is great that
his year we name him as one of our featured carvers. 

 

Shawn Cipa is a very artistic carver of walking stick and other characters.
Learn more about Shawn Cipa at  <http://www.shawnscarvings.com./>
www.shawnscarvings.com. Shawn has 6 how-to-carve books published by Fox
Chapel Publishing, Inc.

 

How many people typically attend the show? Are attendees mostly male or do
many women also attend? 

We have experienced attendance of over a thousand but the past few years
with changes in our venue we have been down to between 500 and 800. The show
attracts both men and women of all ages. We have seen many families
attending and showing renewed interest in this ancient art form and our
contemporary expressions of it. The number of men may edge out the number of
women, but the number of women carving is increasing. We have many women who
are members of our club and very enthusiastic carvers.

 

Are there any special events or features for the 40th-anniversary show? 

Having 6 featured carvers is very special! And the quality of our featured
carvers is indeed top notch. It is indeed a treat to have such nationally
known carvers gathered in one place. One will be amazed to see the vast
variety of carving styles and the quality of workmanship. There will be one
of our members carving of "small" carousel horse. There will also be
earrings and pins to wear and a whole host of other carvings. There will
also be other exhibitors whose art is not in carving but whose subjects are
wildlife. There are oil paintings, photographs, water color paintings,
pencil drawings, painted porcelain and more.

 

Also of interest would be your thoughts on what makes the show so unique and
popular for local and out-of-town visitors, as well as some information on
the Lancaster WoodCarvers organization.

We are very enthusiastic about our art form and very interested in sharing
our creations, but also sharing our love for carving. Woodcarvers come to
know quality and the names of many accomplished carvers. We give a wonderful
event to see first hand quality and to meet accomplished carvers and to talk
about woodcarving. 

 

Finally, do you have any print-quality versions (JPG or TIF) of recent show
images?

Attached are a few pictures from our last festival. "Table" is the table we
raffled off last year. "Dennis" is Dennis Thornton  leading a demonstration
in the Spit and Whittle  area. Another one shows one member carving his
smaller carousel horse at the Festival.

 

See our Website for more information:  <http://www.lancarvers.com/>
http://www.lancarvers.com 

 

Festival & Club information contact: Pete Kovarovic, (717) 392-4814,
<mailto:Woodchips at comcast.net> Woodchips624 at comcast.net 

Exhibitors information contact: Andy DiPace, (717) 394-2262,
<mailto:LancCarvers at Hotmail.com> LancCarvers at Gmail.com 

Competition information contact:  Andy DiPace, (717) 394-2262,
LancCarvers at Gmail.com

Advertisements and Publicity information contact: Jeff Pretz, (717)
940-3311,  <mailto:jefpretz at ptd.net> jefpretz at ptd.net

 

The Lancaster County WoodCarvers is a Pennsylvania Non-Profit Corporation
for educational and charitable work especially to promote, foster and
encourage the arts of woodcarving, whittling and sculpturing.

 

 

Jeff Pretz

jefpretz at ptd.net

P 

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

 

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