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Plate 1, James Neill at work on “Three Angels”

Few things are emotionally warmer, or more connected to the elemental parts of our past, than the act of carving beautiful art from wood. From exquisitely carved mantels to “hillbilly” caricatures, wood carvings seem to evoke the spirit of these hills.

The Woodcarving section of StateoftheOzarks is devoted to celebrating this spirit.

— the editor


JAMES NEILL, FEATURED CARVER, WRITES:

There is nothing like three angels playing wonderful music in your ear. This traditional carving (shown above) has a great warm feel with a chiseled style and feeling of fun and joy. I created this from an old original that my dad carved 35 years ago. He has passed on but his woodcarving feel lives on.

I started wood carving when I was eight years old with my dad, after taking a family vacation to Cape Cod.

The folk art and Americana carving I saw there inspired me. It was lively, expressive and primitive. I carved through college (ending up with a degree in sculpture from Northern Illinois University). I then pursued a career in advertising for 22 years (though each Christmas I carved a Santa Claus featuring my kids and our dogs).

Now, in my 50s and living in the Ozarks, I am back at doing what I love: woodcarving.

I use traditional tools to create each work. Each piece usually starts with pine because I love the character the knot holes give my work. Sometimes, just a knot in the wood can inspire me to do a particular subject.

I love folk art because of its imperfections.

It is these imperfections in art, life, or nature that make life interesting and humorous. I try to express this with my tools, the wood, and my paints to create bold colors, vivid texture, and happy feelings.




Plate 2, Chicken and Chick

This woodcarving shows a little chicken running in nervous desperation to stay up with his mother. I think we can all relate to this experience when we were small.

I wanted to take a large shape (the chicken) and make it a dark color and use light color to highlight the detail. I also chose unusual color combinations to work with the carving. 

I used traditional woodcarving tools to carve the piece. At first, a number of coats of paint was used to build onto the surface of the wood so that it had a rich look and the surface was smooth to paint.

I am currently making my second and third in the Chicken series (show below). It excites me to explore new directions to carve and paint while adding humor to spice it all up.




Plate 3, Birdfeeder by James Neill

Folk art woodcarving is a wonderful medium to generate humor because I have the freedom to distort the bird shapes and facial expressions.




Plate 4, High-O Silver, Away!

If the rhythm of the colors used repeat, often the overall look of the piece works in harmony. There is some experimenting too with the color. I don't always nail the color combinations the first time I put paint on the wood.

— James Neill





All photos and artwork courtesy of James Neill of Ozark, Missouri.