There are many tools that might be used to shape and sculpt wood. None are seemingly less refined than a chainsaw, yet this is the tool of choice for skilled woodcarver Arnie Barton.
Using a chainsaw in all the ways you might usually avoid, Arnie slices, stabs and scratches wizened timber into expressive, intricate forms.
“I prefer starting with wood that has interesting features, like knots or splits. It gives me a face to work with,” Arnie explains. “I especially enjoy finding old roots and seeing what I can reveal within them. I’ve carved gargoyles, bearded men and even wood spirits – all those kinds of things.”
Arnie has produced an impressive array of commissioned and self-inspired pieces over the years. These include a redwood skiing man for a crazy golf course, a seven-foot-tall Warhammer figure made from four separate pieces of sweet chestnut and an exquisitely detailed replica of a buried Lynn Kiln, as well as the more common carvings of owls, foxes and bears.
“I enjoyed creating a sculpture of King Henry VIII on the site of his former deer park in Chelmsford,” Arnie says.
“The oak tree I carved it from would have been a sapling when Henry himself was there, and the sculpture saved it from the wood-chipper.”
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