Arts in Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

Coming up, we'll talk with wood sculptor Brian Frye and collage artist Jeffrey Meyer.

It's all next on Arts in Focus.

Welcome to Arts in Focus.

I'm Emilie Henry.

Wood sculptor Brian Frye's artistic journey didn't begin until later in life.

Around the time he retired from his career as an electrician, Brian developed an interest in chainsaw carving.

He taught himself the craft through trial and error and by watching other artists at carving competitions.

Brian's passion for the art form quickly grew, and now he produces work from his own carving studio just outside Huntertown.

We recently visited Brian to get a full demonstration of how he uses chainsaws, grinders and Dremel tools to create beautifully detailed, small and large scale wood sculptures.

Brian, thank you so much for having me.

I'm thrilled to be here.

Your work is so beautiful.

Thank you.

Let's let's start at the beginning of the process, because I can't really fathom taking a stump or a giant piece of wood and turning it into something so beautiful.

When did you actually start woodworking?

This has I'm sure you've been doing this for a while, because clearly you are beyond proficient.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

They tell me it was in 2005.

They tell you I had a daughter that was graduating right around then.

And we kind of figured it was right around 2005.

We had a graduation party and I had one up and done at that time.

So right around 2005.

But I haven't actually sold anything till now.

This is my first time.

So I was doing it.

I was an electrician, retired now, and I've been doing this, as you know, just as a pastime, and I'm kind of self-taught.

So I did a lot of trial and error in the beginning.

And then I started going around watching people do this.

There's a lot of carving competitions and carving shows.

So I watched a lot of people and in the beginning I was taking a saw and modifying it to run a small chain and trying to figure out what the log will actually lend itself to.

And then once I get done with the chainsaw, roughing out the rough areas.

I'll use grinders and Dremel tools form flex shaft, tool band files, dye grinders and everything to try to get to that point.

I am really slow with this.

I'm not I'm not fast at it because I want to make sure all my stuff's in the right spot, but that's pretty much how I go at it.

You take an idea, you hit it with a saw, and then you hit it with the grinders.

And then after that, I'll use a lot of dyes and stains.

I like to stain my stuff.

And in the beginning I was using marine spar varnish and then later on, I'd start using a bail and dye stains and general finishes, outdoor oils.

And now I'm starting to play with a Rubio Monocoat.

A lot of different, a lot of different finishes as you've gone along.

Ok, beyond being able to work with wood, you also the artistry it takes to create these, these creatures, whether it be animals or your gnome or whatever the case may be, how can you visualize that and then make it come to life?

Well, a lot of it is looking at it from all directions and walking around it.

You'll see me walk around it, walk around it, walk around it.

When you do this, it's you're always looking at different things that you wouldn't actually pay attention to.

Like like people's faces, the lines in their faces and everything and just your hand.

I've done a large fist and people don't realize, you know, you've got your hand and you think the fingers go one way.

But when you really start looking at it and all the direction and everything, it's quite different.

So you've got a lot of studying, a lot of thinking and a lot of wasted time.

Okay.

I'm looking at behind you there's a hammerhead shark Yes, yes, yes.

If somebody asked me to draw or sculpt with clay or whatever, a hammerhead shark, I couldn't do it to save my soul.

Are you referencing photos?

Are you?

How in the world can you take a solid piece of wood and turn it into that?

Well, thank you.

Sometimes I will use photos.

I did have a little hammerhead shark, a plastic toy that I was referencing this, too.

And then when I got done, the the tail of the shark had lines going through it like the model did.

And I realized that there wasn't that way in a real shark.

I end up grinding those all off and but a lot of it is just out of my head like if you look at the stand, it holds the shark up.

That's actually out of my head.

The blue Tang fish on here are, you know, that was from a photo.

So it's a combination.

Sometimes I like it when I'm just doing it on my own and kind of flowing with it because then I don't have to make sure everything's super precise.

I can just go with it.

And there are times when you actually get in the flow of it and you can go along pretty fast.

Then the next morning you come out there and you're like, Where was I at?

What was I thinking?

Oh no, we're going to erase that And when you erase with a chainsaw, they get small quick.

So it's kind of a different deal.

You don't want to erase much?

Yeah, erase.

I love that, that's how you reference it.

Okay, let's let's stick with the shark just because it's right in front of me.

And it's so beautiful.

Thank you.

The fins on the shark, for example, are those connected to is that all part of the same leg or can you add?

You can.

And those are actually doweled.

They have a wooden dowels on those.

So the fins in the back are part of the of the other actual log, the top fin and the side fins.

A couple of smaller fins I've put on with dowels.

Now I don't have any metal in the shark itself and it's actually just sitting on that base.

You can actually lift that shark up and spread those pieces apart.

I didn't know how it was going to be, you know, later on.

So I kind of took a plaster cast of the bottom of it and made that front piece flow with the shark so you could set it set it on there.

So it's worked out pretty well.

Unbelievable.

Thank you.

Okay.

How do you feel yourself evolving and improving as you continue to make your pieces?

I've gotten better with my techniques and if you look at my eyes, some of my eyes, at the beginning, they were flat, they weren't rounded.

And now my eyes have gotten a whole lot better.

Stuff has gotten better.

Once you do it a few times, you get you get better at it.

But the first few things I didn't even carry out of the woods, it looked like voodoo.

I like, Oh, no, no, no.

And then I drag the kids out.

Hey, look at this.

Like, no dad we don't want to see that no more.

So.

So, yeah, it.

And I got to give kudos to my wife for putting up with this, because if you're a chainsaw carver, you're dirty, you're dusty, you're noisy, you drag a log home, you set it right in the driveway or something, you know.

So yeah, she's put up with me doing all this.

So that's a wonderful thing.

That's helped a lot.

Okay.

You mentioned erasing.

Yes.

How how do you know when to stop?

How do you know when?

Good question.

Yeah, sometimes I'll go along and I should have stopped.

There's a point in the beginning.

It's fine.

You can do this, you know, Not really worried about it.

But when you get to the end and the piece is almost done, you're thinking, Well, this is going to make it look better or is it going to make it look worse?

And sometimes if it does make it look worse, then you've got to go along and rework the other stuff.

Yeah, to try to keep the proportional into it.

You got to try to think ahead on it a few few ways, because if you don't, you'll crash into a wall, which I've done several times.

Do you sketch out what you want to do first, or do you just go for it with the chainsaw?

Sometimes I do sketch it out and I will draw on the log to try to get an idea where I'm going to cut for making my major cuts.

Because if you make a great big major cut, then you can't you can't save it at a certain point.

Yeah.

So, yeah, as far as sketching, I really didn't draw that well.

I wasn't an artist.

You asked about art of shop class.

I, I maybe took an art class in school, but no, no other art classes.

I could draw the side profile of an airplane.

That was about it.

I just.

I just can't believe that.

I don't know how you.

How you create all of this without being really proficient in in all kinds of mediums.

Okay.

Tell me logistically what are the easiest types of wood to work with?

Are there some that you that you can't carve?

I've only carved oak, hickory, pine, just very little pine.

I like to work with the hardwoods.

They're heavy, but the grain really looks nice on em I've got Kentucky, the big eagle in the back is Kentucky Coffee, the Honey Locust.

I work with Honey Locust, Kentucky Coffee and honey locust actually fluoresce under Blacklight too, which is pretty cool.

Oh wow Yeah, if you turn on the black light then it is totally different.

The honey locust, the heartwood fluoresces and the sapwood doesn't And I have a small face there character that if you put it under black light, it's a totally different look.

And then you turn it on the regular light and it's just it's quite different.

And that's how they actually can tell certain species of wood, whether it's, you know, fluoresces under black light or not.

So to answer your question, yeah, mainly I'm working with the hardwoods heavy woods.

If I was doing this for a living, it'd be pine because it's light and it's soft.

I live in the woods here and I have a lot of hardwoods that come down, and that's usually where I've sourced most of my wood, just three that's come down.

So yeah, you mentioned that you are.

You're ready now to start selling your work.

Yes.

Is there a part of you that that worries that when it becomes a business, you'll lose some of the joy of it?

Absolutely.

I think that, yes, that is a ball and chain that you don't really want.

I'm retired, so I really don't want to get into a whole deal.

I think if I am carving a piece that is my own creation, then I can do it at my leisure and go the direction I want it to go in and then maybe put it up for sale after it's done.

If I'm doing a piece that somebody wants, then I've got to make it sure it's exactly like they want.

Try to pick their brain a bit to make sure I know what they want and then try to deliver that in a timely fashion, which is tough for a old guy that moves slow.

So I don't want to really be regimented to jumping out of bed and starting up that chainsaw or the grinder or, you know, with all the stains and stuff like that.

But I think that just selling my actual works that I play with will probably be a lot more fun.

Well, this has been an absolute pleasure.

I think your work is beautiful.

I look more and more and see different details and it's just incredible.

So I wish you great success.

I'm sure that regardless of how slowly you want to move, you, you will be among the best.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

Thanks for sitting down with me.

No problem.

My pleasure.

Actually.

For more information find B F carving on Facebook.

I'm joined now by collage artist Jeffrey Myer.

Jeffrey, thank you for being with me.

I want you to take me back in time to when you first started creating.

Were you always into collage or how did it start?

I've always drawn since I was a child and in my twenties I did comics and illustration work very much into drawing and in a certain point that went by the wayside.

So at the time, what illustrators had was something called a reference morgue files and files full of reference pictures, pre-Internet.

If you wanted to know how to draw a 1973 Lincoln Continental, you would take a magazine picture of a Lincoln Continental.

Sure.

Put it in a folder and say, Cars, Lincoln, Continental or, you know, Mount Everest or any specific location or object.

Yeah.

So I would have hundreds and hundreds of these files.

Most artists at the time did.

And since I wasn't drawing, I had to either throw the pictures out or use them for something else.

So I decided, Oh, maybe I should try collage.

So I did that for a few years and it just sort of snowballed.

So what made you decide, okay, I'm going to just kind of pivot.

And then when you did, did it feel like, Oh, okay, great, this is what I was supposed to be doing all along?

There was some dissatisfaction with my drawing, and, I would say, because of the internet, hand-drawn illustrations kind of went by the wayside for a while and, when I turned to collage, it was also a way of creating art that surprised me when I made it.

I never knew what I was going to, what type of image I was going to make.

With drawing, It was more a matter of what's in my head and will I be able to replicate that on the page.

With collage, I was a little more open to discovery, so.

How long did it take you to kind of get into the groove and maybe find your esthetic or find what what really lit you up when it came to making collages?

I'd say I did it about five or six years before I was comfortable with it.

Wow.

Again, each picture is different.

So some were good, some were bad.

But after five or six years, I really you know, I knew I could sit down and create a piece that I was comfortable with.

So what is your definition of good or bad?

What makes you look at a piece and say, Yeah, yeah, I was.

If it sells?

Okay.

So that's really interesting to me because I read your artist statement, which, which basically says you either like it or you don't.

Right.

And so how, what is that?

That fine line?

That's the viewer.

Yeah.

I mean, I, I'm not a fan of creating didactic work or work that says this is what it means.

Yeah.

That's also a difference between drawing and collage.

I try to make pictures in collage that are as ambiguous as possible.

They may or may not have a meaning for me.

And as I said, I may discover the meaning as I make it or after the fact.

But I don't think people should feel, viewers I don't think viewers should feel that they should have to discover a specific meaning.

I'd much rather they have a personal response to the work.

And that can also change my interpretation of my own work changes over years.

When I go to a museum and I see the same painting ten years later, it means something else.

Sure.

Yeah.

It just depending on where you are in life.

Walk me through your process.

I mean, are you still using old drawings or have you ventured into new territory?

No, it's all.

It's pretty similar.

It's always been the same.

It's all analog.

No computer stuff at all.

I sit down with piles and piles of magazines and books.

I disassemble them, and, I try to put the images in vague categories, perhaps landscapes in this pile, backgrounds in this pile.

nothing too strict, because I don't want to limit myself to.

Yeah.

And then I'll.

I'll just page through them over and over until I see an image that catches my eye.

And then I'll isolate that image, and then I'll sort through all the other images and see does it go together?

Does it feel right with this image?

And sometimes it'll take 5 minutes and sometimes it'll take years and years.

I've had pieces where I'll literally have two components and I'll put it in a folder and I'll come back to it years later and open up another image and say, Oh, that makes sense now.

So that's fascinating that you that you can go back and say, okay, yes, this fits so back to the process.

When you're cutting out images, are you using scissors or are you using an X-Acto knife?

I mean, scissors for straight lines.

I use an X-Acto knife.

I do tear occasionally, but it's almost always scissors.

Yeah.

And then is it like, you know, glue stick and on onto a canvas or how how does that work?

I usually find a background image, whether it's a landscape or a color, a blank color.

And then I start with one or two images and I, I make glue them on the background, and then later on, I may find a better background.

So I'll cut them out again.

I'll cut them in half and add another image.

So they're never really finished until I'm sort of abandoned.

Is there a certain type of publication that you really gravitate toward?

Yeah, heavily image based magazines which don't really exist anymore.

But from about the forties through about the nineties, we had magazines like Life and National Geographic and although I try to avoid those because so many collages use collage artists, use those magazines.

So I would, I would go on eBay and buy complete runs of like you know Playboy or any magazine image heavy.

And it's usually the advertising, not the editorial stuff.

Right.

So like Life magazine will have they'll have good pictures, but for some reason, the advertising is a little more interesting to me.

I especially like technical manuals, the images and that sort of thing are they're not designed as art, so they're a little more functional.

And then I try to make them esthetically pleasing.

What is the best part of making collages?

Is there a part of the process?

Is it the finished product?

Besides selling one?

I like the surprise because, you know, most artists are taught a discipline.

Sure.

Which is important.

And I think a lot of artists don't use enough discipline.

But coming from drawing to collage, it's just about as opposite as you can get it in terms of expectation and discovery and the final results.

Yeah.

Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt when a piece is done?

Sometimes.

Usually the simpler they are, the the easier to determine that they're finished.

And I actually prefer the simpler images if they're still somehow compelling and beguiling, that would be, my my, a standard.

The point at which I would say, okay, I don't want to mess with this anymore because I'll screw it up.

Yeah.

So is that your high watermark?

You want it to be beguiling?

Yeah, that's my for all art, including work that I like to look at.

Whether it's a film or a book, There has to be a mystery there.

Not a mystery in the sense of who did it, you know, like a Agatha Christie or something that I think of, like Stanley Kubrick or somebody like that, whose films are very you're not sure what his point of view is, and it may be multiple point of views at the same time.

My work isn't that complex.

It's just one image.

But I like to have that mystery.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you ever hide things in your collages?

Hmm.

Good question.

I try to have multiple images at once sometimes.

the surrealist did that a lot in their work.

You might see something on the surface, and then you look at it a second time and you'll see.

Oh, it's several images at once.

I like that.

I actually like to make work that looks.

That has no evidence of my hand at all.

How do you mean?

Well, when you think of a painting, there are painters who you can see the brushstrokes in some paintings where it's not photographic, but they hide the brushstrokes.

Yeah, same with collage.

When you're a child and you make a collage, you tend to tear the images and you can see that it's torn.

I try to make stuff where it looks like a cohesive image and you're not even sure it's a collage to begin with, if that makes sense.

It absolutely does, because as I was looking at some of your work, that's exactly what I thought.

I was like, Wait, is that is it a photo?

And I don't use computers and I've been accused of using computers.

It's not that I want a slick image or a professional looking image.

I want sort of that ambiguity.

Where how did this image get created?

that's part of what I alluded to earlier when I said I might wait years to find two images that go together.

Yeah, I wouldn't say it's harmony, but it's a matter of cohesiveness.

Yeah.

A lot of collage artists take the first two images they find, slap them together and say, That's good.

And that can be good.

But I like to hide my.

Not my method, but your footprint.

Yeah, exactly.

So what has art taught you about yourself?

That's a good question.

I've never thought of it.

I suppose I'm trying to learn something.

I've been doing it for so long and so, so much.

But maybe not.

Maybe it is just, you know, an outlet and maybe it's just a sensory response to the world around me.

Yeah.

Yeah, I, I think at one point in an interview, I said to someone that I'm just trying to remake images that I'm dissatisfied with in a way that pleases me.

Yeah.

So like advertising and, and technical manuals or whatever I'm using as a source imagery, I try to change them to have a different meaning, but they still carry that meaning over.

Yeah.

So it's inter to me, it's interesting that there's a multiple meanings.

Well, and how cool that you don't do it using technology.

I mean, you know, you don't go into Photoshop and manipulate an ad to make it pleasing to you.

Yeah, I'm not good with technology, nor am I.

So I especially appreciate your work.

Well, Jeffrey, this has been a pleasure.

Thank you so much.

Please keep creating.

Continue with your discipline and keep putting art into the world.

Thank you.

For more information visit j f f r y m y r dot com.

Our thanks to Brian Frye and Jeffrey Meyer.

Be sure to join us next week for Arts in Focus.

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Thank you for watching.

And in the meantime, enjoy something beautiful Arts in Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.