Life-Sized Christ's Return in the Eyes of a Wood Carver

February 28, 2004--But Blanchard didn't originally set out to carve a religious image, it just struck him one day. "I'd never seemed to be very interested in spiritual pieces," said Blanchard. "And if you're gonna carve something, you have to have a passion for it." From dolphins, bears, eagles, Indians, a guy on a chopper to one-of-a-kind tree houses¾and then an entire village of houses for wood spirits called Itsyville, there seems to be no doubt that he has a passion for carving. It is more a matter of where his passion might land next. He'd actually been asked several times about doing angels before the inspiration came to him.

"I just wasn't interested. Then all of a sudden, one day I was, so I did the first angel. I still had some passion left, and she looked lonely, so I did another." Blanchard keep going on the piece until he had three angels, but the central figure had yet to present itself to him. "When the piece was finished with only the angels, I kind of liked it. I didn't want to sell it right away and turned down a couple of offers. Then a couple came by that were visiting the Carmel Mission. When the man saw the angels I'd carved, he showed me a picture he had in his pocket of Christ ascending. He gave it to me and that wallet-sized photo became the model for Christ."

Although Blanchard's been carving for over 15 years, he attributes his talent to being more of a gift than a skill. "I never doubted for a minute that my ability to carve was a gift from God. Maybe if I would've started as a little kid, I would've been able to get away with thinking that it was of my own doing, but that wasn't the way it happened. For this particular piece, I hope it gives a little glory back to the one that gave the gift of carving to me."

An Itsyville Community Profile, Modern-Day Wood Spirit FAQ Guide, Steve Blanchard's Bio and more information about Itsyville (a real village for wood spirits) and Blanchard's Wood Sculpture in Salinas, California may be obtained at: http://www.blanchardwoodsculpture.com/ All tree houses and carvings created by Blanchard Wood Sculpture or Steve Blanchard are not built for the intended purpose of a playhouse, but are one-of-a-kind pieces of constructed art.





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