Kit Metlen
Olympia, WA
Artist Statement
In 1961, while looking for treasures in an Early Winters campground, I found a pocket knife. I took it home and started carving sticks and leftover building materials, building birds and figurines. Wood carving was one of my first merit badges in Scouts.
By the time I was in college and working to support myself during the summers, I was carving up wood samples in the Oregon State Forestry School (which was a no-no, these samples were supposed to last years) and making balls in boxes while waiting between logging turns in the foot deep tamarack dust of eastern Oregon.
Finding permanent work as a forester in an economic recession, I started a 33 year with the State of Washington where I was surrounded by wood. Through that time, I had gone through a dozen pocket knives (by losing them) and continued to work on pocket knife sized wood. But now, I was surrounded by interesting woods in abundance; I acquired yellow and red cedar chunks off of logging landings; I found big leafed maple, Sitka spruce and Douglas fir pieces in Scout camps. During all this time, I probably made two dozen carvings; none bigger than a duck and most about the size of robin.
Retirement in 2007 lead to experimentation; I had met a couple of carvers who made decoys and art for the Puyallup fair. They introduced me to Angle grinders and other means of moving a lot more wood than a knife allows. I had originally envisioned a coffee kiosk sized wood carving shed but their education made me reconsider and I ended up with a two story 20×24 shop.
Now I make between 10 and 30 carvings a year, depending upon their complexity and whatever else is going on (such as visiting grandkids). I seldom just whittle now but I am not a production sculptor either. Most of my carvings are in the round and most of them are not from properly cut and dried cants. I occasionally do contract work but seldom; it has to be something I want to make.
I’m inspired by what I see in life or photos (the movement of a sea lioness, the steadiness of albatrosses in mighty winds, the sleekness and versatility of an octopus…) by the grain of wood, the movement of the growth rings, the coloration and intrigue of hues; by the serendipitous creation of movement found in the carving process; by the feeling of the blades cutting the wood; by the enhancement of the carving by the bold use of one, two or three colours as developed and perfected by NW peoples; and, by the addition of shell, metal and paint to create or enhance movement and suggest stories…
