Davey Gagne : Chainsaw Artist from Olympia, WA

ThurstonTalk recently put out a great article on Davey Gagne, a chainsaw sculptor and artist, from Olympia, Washington. Davey is a very talented self-taught chainsaw artist who builds houses during the day and sculpts at night. Most people don’t think of a chainsaw as a tool for creating art but there’s a small, yet passionate, group of artists who can turn a utilitarian power tool into a power paintbrush.

You can visit his site Chips-A-Flyin’ to learn more about Davey and see some of his terrific art. Go have a look. I challenge you to make art with a chainsaw. It takes a lot of perseverance and dedication to do what he does. I think I’ll stick to using my brushes and paint on canvas. At least if I screw up I won’t create a flesh wound.

Davey Gagne Creates Art with a Chainsaw in His Hands, an excerpt:
ThurstonTalk | By Gail Wood | Sept 17, 2014

For Gagne, a fishing trip to Westport turned into a wishing trip nearly 20 years ago. After fishing, he watched a chainsaw sculpturing contest that was going on in that town that weekend. He was amazed at what he saw. For the next five years, Gagne came back to watch that contest at Westport, watching their techniques as they used chainsaws, grinders and sanders.

“I was totally infatuated with it,” Gagne said. “We went to watch that every year after that. After awhile, I said I could do this.”

That was 12 years ago. Gagne, who is now 52, has competed in those contests. After doing three or four competitions a year for a number of years, he does only one a year now. In the first week of July, he competed along with 13 other chainsaw sculptors, in a contest at Sedrow Wooly. The competition is intense. All contestants get a seven foot block of cedar and they get 22 hours over four days to carve whatever they want within the theme of western logging and northwest wildlife. The winning piece will  sell for about $1,500.

Read the rest of the article at ThurstonTalk.