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J. Chester Armstrong

Wooden Sculpture (Chainsaw)

Skip Armstrong found his milieu in the "culture of wood cutters" taming timbers with chainsaws in the Oregon and Washington forests.  "It's an exciting tool," Armstrong says.  "The bigger the saw, the more I enjoy it."

Armstrong spends his days creating beautiful sculpture in his central Oregon studio, close to the snow capped Cascade mountains.

Skip loves his work and the animals that he creates.  He states that every animal has charm, grace and beauty.  "I've adapted a chain saw to a lot of uses that normally only a chisel would do.  I'm less interested in exact form and muscle structure than in the impact and expressions.  However, muscle tension brings life to the wood and I know that anatomy is important.  I study it daily and think of it each time I pick up a tool.  When I get down to actually producing something, I have to be accurate, but I never take a picture and transpose it directly.  I think sculpting is a thing unto itself.  I am very interested in showing how an animal can best be put into a block of wood and still maximize its sculptural qualities and form."

"Using the chainsaw is a mystification process... I'm always on the verge of total destruction because I'm dealing with speed and there's no chance to redo.  It's the sense of trying to keep it all together until the product comes out as close to perfect as I can get it."

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