Artist Statement
On what I do...
Each piece is a journey. Some pieces are like another trip to the grocery store, some are travels to places never visited. Either trip, you must keep your eyes on the road. Craftsmanship and skills can take you down the road, but you need some sense of where you want to go. Mistakes can come quick, and tools are dangerous.
I’ve had a lifelong relationship with wood and the tools that can shape it into art. Or planks. Or kindling. It’s not so difficult, at this point of the career, to do a good job—it just takes time, and effort. But to do a great job takes more time, more effort, and a seeking, a real striving... satisfaction is sometimes short in the three dimensional world of sculpture, a little pause on the road-trip, and I’m still on that road every day.
“I do what I have concluded I was destined to be doing, and consider that a blessing ” –true.
“Art has always fascinated me” –true, but sounds like a very poor pickup line.
“Art has always sidetracked me from more lucrative paths” –would be a more honest line, but equally poor.
It’s often hard, physically and mentally demanding work. There’s a lot of harvested timber out there, crying out to not become just firewood. Someone has to do this stuff, you know, so that might as well be me!
“Create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave” –C. Brancusi, artist. (probably not his best pickup line)
On the process....Cow Poetry
There is a block of wood in front of you, and a sharp tool in your hand. That’s the physical reality of it. There’s an idea in your head, and an artist/passion/creative thing behind that, in your heart. So you get to work, trying to bring that all together somehow. When the sawdust and chips settle you wipe off your specs and look for satisfactory results. Usually the safety specs go back on, hands get back to work, and you’re back at it. A few more times, until the wood is now shaped to whatever that “artistic goal” was, or as far as your initial vision went. This sometimes is the point where more study, pondering and questioning enter the effort, and progress is slow and pensive. Further vision, in dusty glasses.
Grain, color, light, and shadow change with lines, masses, and form; it’s a visual symphony minute by minute in the carving work. And I try to conduct this symphony to bring the art out of wood. How lofty that might sound, but keep noise and sawdust in the image, and it’ll feel pretty gritty, believe me.
It is not my focus to add more detail, or realism, but to create a feeling or impression. A style has come about, over the years, that is intentional, and unique. It’s me, trying to show you something in wood, just as if I was talking to you over lunch describing the sandwich you just ordered. My style is not so much model making—I’m not after an exact replica. It’s more like poetry than news reporting. I will always study a cow carefully before setting out to carve one, but it’ll be a cow-poem—an artistic interpretation.
There is a beauty in the natural world that is beyond description. The Master Artist of all creation gifted us with this, but we don’t always have eyes open to see it. Life is too rushed and busy much of the time. If my work does a little to remind you of this beauty, we are both blessed.
The year ahead...
We are all getting through a most unique time in history. Creating art sometimes relieves me of a need to share opinions or points of view. And a little art out there might bring more happiness or joy to the world than my own words on a subject. Carving is a solitary job, with noise, dust, and long hours keeping conversation short.
This year I tried some new tools, tried quite a few new subjects, and had enough work to keep busy.
If you had a tough year, may you find better days ahead. Every tomorrow has promise, and is fleeting. Time does move on, carries us forward, brings both joys and sorrows. Hang on, breathe deep, pray and laugh often.
I sure hope to see more friends and make some new ones on the other side of this pandemic! Last year saw every event I work cancelled. That’s about 75 of the most socially interactive days of my year. We look forward to getting out of the shop and off the farm. Fairs, art shows, festivals were always good times, even with some bad weather here and there. “Hey, look! Itinerant roadside carver over there, Marge, should we stop?” Been there, t-shirts and scars, to prove, loved it! There is no telling yet how soon we will get back to what “normal” was (re: previous sentence) and we are being tentative on the event schedule for now, but doing my best to be ready!
–Bud Hainzinger
Contact Bud for carving inquiries:
(815) 274 6723 | chainslinger@gmail.com
Where to view public carvings by Wooden Matter
Starved Rock State Park, Utica, Illinois
White Pine State Park, Mount Morris, Illinois
Kankakee County Forest Preserves, Kankakee, Illinois
CR 7 Roundabout, Frederick, Colorado
Lewis University, Romeoville, Illinois
Illinois Valley Community College, Oglesby, Illinois
Bridgeton, Indiana
Madison, Wisconsin
Nashville, Tennessee