The links provided are to help the reader find the necessary information to get training in the arts and crafts.
nora hall,master woodcarver, city and guilds of london art school, gmc group,who have all sorts of craft magazines (including woodcarving),ian norbury,master artistcraftsman.
To anyone serious about learning woodcarving and art these are invaluable sites.
ENJOY!
The link 'gallery on flickr' is a record of my own work,(a mini portfolio).
jim chapman irish artist
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
woodcarving- how i got started
woodcarving is one of the oldest art and craft forms in the world.For me it began in cardiff city,wales, in 1988,
a neighbour of mine at the time gave me some chinese carving tools and two peices of soft wood,white deal if i remember correctly.I carved two heads not unlike those on easter island,this triggered my interest in woodcarving.Up until then my interest was in art, painting, drawing, even signmaking.When i came home to ireland,i worked at various jobs until in 1990 i joined the P.D.F.,permanent defence forces,(irish army),i found i had no time for art in this job,but apart from that,ones thinking changes,and i began to have a creative death.I left the P.D.F. in 1991,discharge by purchase after almost two years of service.I moved to galway city in the west if ireland after my discharge and was there only a week when i picked up the galway advertiser newspaper and came across an ad for woodcarving classes,the classes were held in the galway craft centre,run by yoram drori,master craftsman.the craftcentre is long closed,it was in the old malt mall.
the course was ten weeks long,two and a half hours a week.The first six weeks were made up of carving exersices getting more complex as the weeks went by,and the final four weeks were a project,to produce a carving of your choice from patterns available
on the course.after the course the students projects were exibited in the eyre square centre.Yoram took me under his wing after the course and trained me as a teacher and also trained me in running the centre when he was called away.Yoram is an israeli and sometimes went on holidays there and would leave me to run the craft centre,which i did.My course ended in early 1992,and i began to research and develop carving skills myself,i began to teach myself how to sculpt wood,work out problems with visual mathemathics etc.
buying tools bit by bit,woodcarving books,when you have to do things on your own,its more appreciated.
Twenty years on (2012),i could call myself a master artistcraftsman, and still in love with the art and craft of woodcarving,its something that anyone with an interest could take up.
a neighbour of mine at the time gave me some chinese carving tools and two peices of soft wood,white deal if i remember correctly.I carved two heads not unlike those on easter island,this triggered my interest in woodcarving.Up until then my interest was in art, painting, drawing, even signmaking.When i came home to ireland,i worked at various jobs until in 1990 i joined the P.D.F.,permanent defence forces,(irish army),i found i had no time for art in this job,but apart from that,ones thinking changes,and i began to have a creative death.I left the P.D.F. in 1991,discharge by purchase after almost two years of service.I moved to galway city in the west if ireland after my discharge and was there only a week when i picked up the galway advertiser newspaper and came across an ad for woodcarving classes,the classes were held in the galway craft centre,run by yoram drori,master craftsman.the craftcentre is long closed,it was in the old malt mall.
the course was ten weeks long,two and a half hours a week.The first six weeks were made up of carving exersices getting more complex as the weeks went by,and the final four weeks were a project,to produce a carving of your choice from patterns available
on the course.after the course the students projects were exibited in the eyre square centre.Yoram took me under his wing after the course and trained me as a teacher and also trained me in running the centre when he was called away.Yoram is an israeli and sometimes went on holidays there and would leave me to run the craft centre,which i did.My course ended in early 1992,and i began to research and develop carving skills myself,i began to teach myself how to sculpt wood,work out problems with visual mathemathics etc.
buying tools bit by bit,woodcarving books,when you have to do things on your own,its more appreciated.
Twenty years on (2012),i could call myself a master artistcraftsman, and still in love with the art and craft of woodcarving,its something that anyone with an interest could take up.
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