Carving By Keenan

This Iowa State Fair wood carver has worked all over America

Gary Keenan can see inside wood.

There’s a buffalo waiting in that squat dark walnut log. A fox is breaking out of that wide stump of pine. And a hummingbird drinking from a blossoming flower is so obviously inside that tall, skinny branch it’s liable to burst through the bark.

For Keenan, 65, determining what a final carved art piece will be is a delicate dance between the subject in his mind’s eye, the size of log and the type of wood, its color and density.  

via www.desmoinesregister.com

Hi all -- Glen here (Gary's brother). Gary was featured in Sunday's DM Register!

Carving By Keenan on Facebook

To see more (and newer!) pics of Gary's carvings, check out Carving By Keenan's Facebook page.

A life size shepherd with three lambs carved from a red elm in Conway, Arkansas for the First United Methodist Church.

A ten foot black bear carved for the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. Their mascot is "bears".

Three tall pine trees in central Arkansas carved into abstract "old world" travelers. The fourth smaller pine tree carved into a tree stump, which will eventually hold a lantern.

A tall thin pine tree stump carved into a......tall thin pine tree. Was going for a "Dr Suess" look on this one.

Fairy and flowers

 
A fairy commissioned in central Iowa.  We decided to have a bunny looking up at the (woodland) Fairy, who is holding a small bird in her hands.  There is also a toadstool at the base, and on the other side is a morel mushroom and a butterfly.

This is a bench I was commissioned to carve for Basin Park in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This "park" is not what most of us think of, it is more of a "plaza" in downtown Eureka Springs. It is virtually cut into the side of a mountain, where the next tier up features a stage, and this park is commonly used by street performers and for many community activities.A large sycamore tree, in this park, was dying and had to be taken down.It was large enough and close enough to the street, that the street had to be closed during the process. I got introduced to Eureka Springs througha chainsaw carving event they host each April. Community leaders were progressive enough to see that most of the wood was used for that event.A couple of sections of the sycamore were set aside to make the bench.

I'm usually too busy with orders to carve something of my choosing, but awhile back I had an itch to carve "Mike" from Monsters Inc. For the carving to have structural strength I couldn't be very accurate my having
his arms and legs as thin as the real character. But he's one of my favorite characters and it was fun to do this. He eventually was placed and sold at a shop in NW Arkansas.