Murray Wood: Who's hot and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
Lasting 32 hours and spanning four days, it’s a feat of athleticism longer than some ultra marathons – and Dee-Ann Holmes is doing it at the age of 62.
The sixth annual Manitou Beach Chainsaw Carving Festival started Thursday and runs until Sunday, with nine carvers creating works of art out of 10-foot tall logs.
Read more:
- Saskatchewan’s stage: Discover the Manitou Beach Busking Festival
- Inside the vault: Exploring four decades of Shakespeare costumes
- From seed to stem: A Saskatchewan flower farm in full summer bloom
A dental assistant from Seddons Corner, Manitoba, Holmes is one of those artists and athletes.
“Besides marathoning, there’s not too many sports out there that last the endurance of chainsaw carving,” she said.
With carvers operating their equipment for days on end, Holmes said it takes a toll on the body.
“I do have to take more breaks. I gotta suck back the Gatorades like crazy because I need the electrolytes. But I’ll tell you, I’m addicted. I can’t stop,” she said.
Holmes has been crafting with chainsaws for 11 years, after stumbling upon the art when working on a project at the dentist’s office.
“I was in a lab carving a tooth out,” she said, when one of the receptionists asked if she carved.
“She goes, ‘Do you ever think about carving ducks? Because I carve ducks.’”
Holmes took her up on the offer, eventually learning to carve small birds.
That was in 2004, but it took her another decade before she took a chainsaw carving course.
Now, Holmes is well-known for her work with the power tool, with people in Manitou Beach treating her like a local celebrity.
“Everybody is like, oh my god, we already know you. It’s so funny. It’s kind of weird, but it’s great,” she said about the first time she competed in the community’s chainsaw festival.
During that inaugural trip, she says people at Mike’s Beach Bar welcomed her by name, with one patron even leaving her a gift.
Someone at the bar told her, “So and so left. She just finished making her pickled eggs for you guys. And I’m like, oh God.”
Now in her third year, Holmes said the event is a welcome break.
“For a chainsaw carver, this is a holiday.”
This year Holmes is transforming her 10-foot log into a bison, after confirming no one else was doing the same.
She got the idea after reading The Northwest is Our Mother, which as a Métis person, she says is like “the Bible.”
According to Holmes, the book documents how Métis travelled through Saskatchewan to hunt buffalo, ending up at the healing waters in Manitou.
Through her carving, she said she hopes to, “recognize the Métis people in the area,” and the stories behind those waters.
Choosing a design ahead of time is easier said than done, though, since the logs are randomly assigned.
Holmes originally planned to do a full bison lying down but has since switched her plans to carve a standing bison.
She’s not the only one who had to go back to the drawing board.
Carver Jim Niedermayer “fell in love” with the art after watching a man cut a block of wood into a chair on television back in 1978. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
Log carvers adapt to their logs
Carver Jim Niedermayer had a plan coming in to the weekend, but his log ended up having some rot and a fracture in the back.
“You never know what’s inside of a tree. When you open it up and start carving, it could be hollow pockets in there, and who knows what’s inside? I’ve seen bullets in trees and all kinds of things,” he said.
For Niedermayer, who opted to carve a seven-foot soaring eagle, it’s about being flexible with the end goal being to create a piece of art.
“I’ve never come here to win, and I never really tried. I try to leave a nice piece here,” he said.
It’s a non-competitive environment among the nine artists, according to Holmes, who explained how they all have each other’s backs, lending a hand if someone falls behind.
For Holmes, becoming part of the chainsaw carving community has changed her life.
“It’s one of the best things to ever happen to a human because chainsaw carvers are like no others,” she said.
— with files from 650 CKOM’s Brittany Caffet
Read more:
