Wood carving clubs on Long Island teach the craft to
seniors
December 4, 2015 4:09 PM
By Stacey Altherr Special to Newsday
By Stacey Altherr Special to Newsday
A
variety of Viking figures, including two that are still being worked on, carved
in the flat plane technique by Tony Quattrone, 63, of the Suffolk County Wood
Carvers Guild. Photo Credit: Daniel Brennan
- Open to expert and novice carvers
- Totem poles to wooden gnomes
The
smell of freshly carved wood is in the air at the New Village Recreation Center
in Centereach. At a long table, men and women are working with short, sharp
knives. Their art varies from a decoy duck to an intricate cross. There are
gnomes and old-fashioned Santas. Some pieces are as small as a clothing pin.
Others stand 3 feet tall.
The
designs are intricate, and the work, done by hand, is as precise as a machine.
Faces of Santas twinkle, and the growl of the gnomes can be read on the faces
of the carved gems. Marty Mizel, 70, shows his 2-foot totem pole carved in
cottonwood bark, the hair of one caricature melding into the beard of another
above it.
