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Art

Their passion is their art: working with wood

The 25th Calusa Wood Carving Show is this weekend at a new location in Hudson.

By JENNIFER STEWART
Published March 3, 2006

HUDSON - Bobbi Kerr will spend up to two months babying a piece of wood to make a horse, lion or tiger.

Kerr has carved mainly wildlife for about 15 years. For five of those, she studied at the American Woodcarving School in her native New Jersey.

"A lot of people consider woodcarving a craft," she said. "But I really consider it an art."

That's one thing she hopes people take away from a show this weekend.

Kerr, who lives in Hernando Beach, will be a featured artist at the 25th annual Calusa Wood Carving Show, which will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Veterans Memorial Park, 14333 Hicks Road in Hudson.

Admission is $2, which includes a chance to win one of more than 100 carvings that will be given away as door prizes.

The venue is a first for the show, which drew more than 1,500 people last year to the New Port Richey Recreation Center, where it has been held for more than 10 years. "We're hoping (attendance) doesn't drop too much because we had to change locations," said member E. Jane Wentworth.

The other featured artist will be Chau Pham from Winter Park, who will join Kerr and others in giving demonstrations throughout the weekend.

Food will be available, and 25 members of the Calusa Wood Carvers will have items on display and for sale.

The club, which was formed in 1984 and has nearly 100 members, meets monthly in the annex at the CARES Elfers Senior Center.

For The ToyMakers, this will be their second time at the event. "Some of those birds (in the show), you just wait for them to take off," said lead toymaker Tom Loughlin.

The ToyMakers, 15 men primarily from New Port Richey, meet twice a week in a toy shop in Loughlin's back yard. They donate brightly colored, old-time toys like race cars and fire trucks to agencies that help kids who are in physical or emotional distress.

The men travel to a mill in Oldsmar to pick up discarded wood every two weeks to make the 5,000 to 6,000 toys they produce annually.

At the show, the toys will be displayed, not sold. "We don't sell them," Loughlin said. "That's not what we're about."

The men will, however, give a wooden "ladybugmobile" to every child who walks past their table.

A fifth-grade boy at a school where Loughlin once spoke asked him a question at the end of his talk about The ToyMakers.

"Wait a minute," the boy said to Loughlin. "You don't sell your toys and you don't get paid. Why do you do it?"

"When you asked that, you had a smile on your face," Loughlin told him. "That's why we do it."

Call (727) 842-3233 for more information on the Calusa Wood Carvers.

For details on The ToyMakers, call 727 868-9342 or visit www.thetoymakers.org

[Last modified March 3, 2006, 02:15:34]