Smaller items being made from trees downed in storm
Bowls, cutting boards, vases will soon be for sale
By Tom Buckham and Brian Meyer
- NEWS STAFF REPORTERS
Updated: 04/17/08 8:17 AM
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- As Carvings for a Cause enters a new phase, Rich Crowe, left, of Ellicottville, and Patrick Del Monte, of Forestville, are turning smaller pieces of wood from the October 2006 storm into bowls, cutting boards, pepper mills and vases.
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Folks who would like to own a memento from the freak October 2006 snowstorm but lack space for one of those large varnished wood sculptures made from downed trees will soon be able to buy smaller works crafted from the ruins of that devastating event.
As a chain saw ripped into a 7-foot-tall section of trunk outside a waterfront storehouse Wednesday, Carvings for a Cause launched a new phase of its campaign to turn fallen trees into art — one in which 200 Western New York wood turners will convert rough pieces into bowls, cutting boards, vases, pepper mills and other keepsakes.
In conjunction with Earth Week, the organization announced that Adam Nowicki, the local artist who was manning the chain saw, will join Corfu sculptor Rick Pratt in making additional large works for the public art project and that Erin Waters of Portland, Ore., is making paper from wood chips processed from damaged limbs.
Meanwhile, the city and a charity that is replacing trees toppled by the storm won a national award for their reforestation efforts.
The National Arbor Day Foundation has named Buffalo and Re-Tree Western New York as joint recipients of the 2008 Project Award, which honors work in tree planting and conservation.
Though Carvings for a Cause intends to eventually turn over any surplus to Re-Tree Western New York, the organization is not close to breaking even, said founder Therese For-ton-Barnes.
The $100,000 that corporate and individual sponsors paid for two dozen Pratt sculptures visible at businesses and public spaces has gone to pay expenses, she said.
“I need to get the project stabilized. Then money can go into reforesting,” Forton-Barnes said.
A fundraiser will be held “in the next couple of months.” Following the creation and sale of objects made by Wood Turners of Western New York, Carvings for a Cause will enter a third phase that envisions an “art trail” and audio tour highlighting sculptures and a tree sculpture park, she said.
Pratt is currently finishing a sculpture of Mother Catherine McAuley, who founded the Sisters of Mercy, that is destined for the order’s Hamburg motherhouse. Future carvings will include likenesses of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Grover Cleveland and Father Nelson Baker.
Though paying the expenses of transporting tree trunks and making and placing art has proved difficult, there is no shortage of raw material, Forton-Barnes said. Eighteen months after the storm, the clearing of tens of thousands of ruined trees continues across the region.
Re-Tree Western New York, formed by about 40 local residents a few weeks after the storm, has a five-year plan to replace about 30,000 trees throughout the region.
The award also honors “the dozens of dedicated block clubs and community organizations that pitched in to reforest our beloved city . . .,” said Paul Maurer, Re-Tree cochairman.
Mayor Byron W. Brown announced the award Wednesday in the Parkside neighborhood.
tbuckham@buffnews.com and brianmeyer@buffnews.com
