ELM TREE SCULPTURE
Rusty Barton of Chainsawed Expressions carves his latest creation from an old elm tree in Jackson Park — a piece of ‘secret’ artwork commissioned by the city to coincide with the opening of the Bright Lights Windsor display on Dec. 6.
Day after day, Rusty Barton has been chipping away at an old elm tree in Jackson Park, transforming it into a work of art.
“I don’t know if I should tell you what’s going to be on there or not, it’s kind of a secret,” the self-taught wood carving artist said. “I’ve been urging people to go to my Facebook page and follow.”
Barton’s been posting updates on his Facebook page, Rusty Barton custom chainsaw and hand-carved art, Chainsawed Expressions, where people have been making guesses at what he’s turning the old 15-foot-by-four-foot tree into. He invites curious carving fans to come out and watch him get to work, and also bring a coffee — he takes it with 2 1/2 creams and four sugars.
He was commissioned to do the piece by the City of Windsor, and while he said the design is under wraps, for now, he did say it will incorporate the friendship between
Canada and the United States.
“As an artist, if somebody wants me to do a, particularly a big carving for them, I like to sit down and talk to them and find out what their impressions and where they’ve been and what they kind of want on the carving,” he said. “And then from that conversation, I can normally draw up a picture of something that kind of includes all of their ideas.”
He’s hoping to have the piece finished in the next two to three weeks, but, with the sudden blanket of snow, he said, “we’ve just got to roll with the weather.”
He said his target is for it to be completed before the first night of Bright Lights, on Friday, Dec. 6.
Barton said he has around 26 carvings throughout Essex County, including three in Amherstburg and two in Mcgregor. He said he would like to get a map together outlining where people could see his carvings throughout the area, and to find other local carvers to have their work incorporated in a large mapping project as well.
“There’s thousands of carvings all over Essex County,” he said, noting most people, don’t know where to find them.
Barton worked as an arborist, which sparked his interest in wood carving. He’s been carving for six years.
“We were chipping a lot of wood and throwing a lot of logs away and I just couldn’t imagine them all just rotting,” he said. “I took home a piece of wood and started hacking at it and it looked like a bear and I thought, ‘OK that’s pretty cool.’” Now, Barton showcases his work at woodcarving shows like the Harrow Fair. Prior to working as an arborist, he spent 15 years in the Canadian Armed Forces.
“I never, ever thought about doing art for sure. It was just something I tried and I was like ‘wow that works,’” he said. “Every time I carve something I’m just super amazed, you know like ‘wow that really worked — look at that.’”