My Carving Instructors

I thought I'd give a little tribute to the people who have taught me how to carve. While I still don't consider myself a real carver, these people did their best to make me one, and I'll always think of them. I've taken a lot of classes over the years, and I've carved with a lot of carvers, but these are my favorites. Visit my 1st  carvings page to see how bad I started out, although I think I threw away most of the really bad stuff.
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Craig Nutt was my very first carving instructor. What I really wanted to learn was how to make his awesome carved vegetable furniture. He thought I should learn how to carve first.

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Larry Nowell was the person who really started me into carving. He was at Woodcraft every Tuesday afternoon, willing to teach all comers. He switched my interest from furniture to faces.
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Helen Gibson was the first carver who's work I really admired. No one can make a sweet face on a small carving like her. Helen is from Brasstown, NC and is the master carver at the John C. Campbell Folk School.
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Vic Hood is the person who hooked me on carving busts. He's fantastic and dedicates himself to teaching others. No that's not his wife, that's one of his carvings.
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John Burke was Vic's mentor. I didn't get to know him very well, but I loved his irascible style. Maybe it was just because I kept my tools sharp, but we got along great. Go to the John Burke Demo bust page to see what he could do in 15 minutes.