When you look at a piece of wood, what do you see? It might not be the same as what Rory Stachiw sees. The wood carver from Wishart, Sk. tries to find the spirit of the wood, carving out faces in the wood he finds.
Wood spirits bring good luck and protection according to legend, says Stachiw, and they can be found in any piece of wood.
“Each piece of wood is unique. What I try to do is find the face that is hidden within, and then I try to release it. The face is there, you just have to find it.”
Those spirits can be anywhere, whether it’s in wood found in nature or under the bathroom sink, as Stachiw carves in things like plungers.
“Any wood is special, so you take items that somebody wouldn’t take a second look at and give it new life.”
The length of time it takes to do a typical piece depends on the wood itself. A softer wood tends to be easier to work with, so a piece made on a soft wood can take about 2-3 days, while with a hard wood it can take 3-4 days to complete. Factoring in the time it takes to find the wood itself, some of the larger pieces can take around a week.
The majority of the wood is from Saskatchewan, and Stachiw finds it wherever he travels in the province. Since he goes around the province both for craft shows and to go fishing, he has plenty of opportunity to find wood in the province.
“Anywhere I go I’m looking for that unique piece.”
Sunflower was a good weekend for Stachiw, with a positive response from attendees and plenty of sales of his wood spirits. If someone wants one of their own and didn’t have the chance to visit Sunflower itself, they can email Stachiw at [email protected]
