In a wooded neighborhood of Dunlap, a cloud of sawdust fills the air before accumulating like snow on the ground, and the roar of a chainsaw rips through the quiet of nature. Carole Chubbuck is at work.
Chubbuck is a chainsaw artist, using saws big and small to carve statues from logs like a sculptor uses chisel and hammer to transform marble into man. At her she-shed on her home’s property, there are bears and birds etched from wood. There are Peanuts characters cast in a nativity scene, an angel and a mermaid, among others. A carved Sacagawea cradles an infant in her arms by the shed’s side.
“Some of my favorites, I sold. But I really like Sacagawea,” Chubbuck says of her work. “I carved her this past year. I like the way she came out.
“It kind of sets you apart in this field, because most people do bears and eagles and things like that, and I wanted something a little more challenging. [Feminine features] are very challenging,” she explains, adding that she’s trying to get better at carving female faces.