| Ol Don Burgdorf His interest in the working cowboy and the Native American cultures has lasted over 40 years and has been the inspiration for many of his paintings and carvings. In June of 1999 he retired and is now devoting all his available time to his art interests—Painting, drawing, carving and most recently, traveling and teaching at wood carving events. |
| Bonnie Graser My love of wood led me to work with Rick Reeves who is pretty well known for his spinning wheels, tho I did mostly bowl turning for him. I painted pictures and did many other crafts for years and then started carving in 89 when my Dad wanted company to take a carving class. My first love was and probably still is relief but a close second is chip carving which I took up a few years down the road. I’ve taught classes for my NE Iowa Carving club, for Woodcraft Shop store in Tucson (near where we winter) and at the GOW. |
| Chris Howard Chris was born the son of an Native American Mother in the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains where music and art are a way of life. He began carving wildlife and soon graduated into realistic sculpting which is now his specialty. You will know Chris when you meet him with his warm southern manner, long hair, white cowboy hat and an accent that testifies of his mountain upbringing. |
| Floyd Rhadigan Floyd entered the world of woodcarving in 1970, with the help of a family friend, Smokey Joe Briemuiller. Floyd began to teach his style of carving in 1976 for the city of Mt. Clemens, MI Adult Education Program. He moved to Warren, MI and started to teach for the Warren Parks & Rec. Dept. In 1991, he moved to Saline, MI where he started teaching a weekly class and began participating in wood carving shows around the state, The biggest honor in his career was to become a member of the Caricature Carvers of America. |
| Grandpa Dave Dave has been carving for many years. He has studied with such carvers as Harley Refsal, Jeff Phares, the Bishops and others. Dave has as much passion for teaching wood carving as he did when he taught Junior High music. This will be Grandpa Dave's 6th. year at the GOW. He enjoys teaching Flat Plane carving, which the Scandinavians call Carving. |
| Bob Mau Bob enjoys carving faces, He finds it amazing to watch a face emerge out of a block of wood. Bob has been carving since 1979. He teaches classes at Woodcraft, various park districts around the Chicago area, and the annual Gathering of Wood Carvers in Somonauk Illinois. This class we will be carving a study stick on carving parts of the Face . |
| Jan Oegema Jan came to Canada in 1950 from the Netherlands. He started chipcarving on his own in 1972 on and off. Jan carves almost everything ...... anything but "birds". He has taught at Past Gow’s, wood carvers rendezvous in Branson Missourri and the Wooodcarvers congress in Davenprt Ia. His classes are fun and have a tendecy to fill quickly. |
| Joe Dillett Joe is a Master Carver, artist and owner of The Carving Shop in Somonauk Illinois is a traditional carver using old-world tools producing architectural hand carved art for businesses, churches and homes. He has been in business for 37 years producing one of a kind art, teaching and promoting the art of woodcarving. Joe writes the “Ask Joe� column in Carving Magazine published by All-American Crafts and was honored to host the GOW at his shop until we outgrew it and moved to the Sandwich Fair grounds |
| Jim Byrne Jim is a teacher with a strong interest in traditional tools, designs, and carving methods, with a particular interest in woodenware with Celtic or early American roots. He prefers “coaching� carving, as opposed to formal instruction. Most of the projects he teaches require very few tools, usually just a sharp knife and a single gouge. His “love spoons� are miniature in size, rarely longer than eight inches in length, and his walking sticks and canes are intended to be attractively functional, useful aids on the trail or around town. |
| Gene Westerberg Gene grew up in a family of Swedish wood carvers, and started whittling with a pocket knife at an early age. His inspiration comes from nature: first hand study of dozens of species he has observed in Brown County, at home in Sandwich and whenever his travels take him. Gene now exhibits and sells through the Brown County Craft Gallery and in the DeKalb Gallery as well as my studio at home. |
| John Susin John is an award-winning carver who specializes in Santas and caricatures. Some of his larger Santas have kaleidoscopes built into their bodies, making them a holiday ornament which is both a delight to see and to play with. He was a state winner in the Woodcraft Santa competition and his Santa trio graced the front and back covers of Chip Chats, which has published feature articles on his work. John is a highly successful teacher whose goal is for every student to complete a project worthy of becoming a family heirloom. |
| Gordon Sorensen ** cancelled ** Gordon has had the luxury of carving for about eleven years. In that time he has taken a number of different classes from a number of well-known instructors. Of all the things he carves, he like's working on relief carving and fish carving. He has been attending the GOW since the second one and has never gone away without new friends & lots of new ideas. He is a member of the National Wood Carvers Assoc. and the Mich. Woodcarvers Asso. |
| Sharon C. Bechtold As a third generation artist Sharon grew up around a variety of materials, tools and the encouragement that have been instrumental to her development. During the last 7 years she has devoted herself exclusively to Pyrography, developing her own unique style, based on renaissance art principles, in order to render a highly realistic image with emotion. Her teaching approach is highly personalized encouraging her students not only to learn the methods but to find their own “voice� so that their art reflects their unique personality. |
| Current line-up of GOW instructors |
| Mel Johnson Mel is the current president of the Woodbee Carvers Club in Iron Mountain, MI, and teaches classes on animals, wood spirits, love spoons, 4-part roses, many kinds of ornaments, whistles, toys, knives, and pins. In addition to the aforementioned items, he has carved Indians, children, cowboys, animals (birds, bears, cougars, wolves, deer, horses, boars, etc.), caricatures, walking sticks, bottle stoppers, candle sticks, and a variety of cottonwood bark and driftwood items. |
| Cal Walter Cal is from Slinger, WI, and spends his winters in Arizona. Woodcarving soon became his main interest, and it was only about 2 years ago that he finally decorated several furniture pieces with carving. Cal has taught at woodcarving clubs in Wisconsin, Florida and Arizona and at various seminars around the country including the Texas Woodcarvers Guildâ €™s spring seminars, War Eagle, Arkansas’s annual seminar, and Evart, Michigan’s Woodcarvers Roundup. |
| Cathy Krumrei Cathy has been carving since 1996 and has attended all the GOW’s since the beginning in 1999. Living in Grand Rapids, Minnesota surrounded by trees it can’t get better than that! Cathy has always been into photography and has won first place at the local fairgrounds. The photography has now been a important step in her business to show her carvings at their best. |
| Tonya Weekly Scrapbooking & rubber stamping |
| Judy Balch Crocheted lace neckless |
