Woodcarver Supreme
Stepping into Kerry O’Toole’s rambling, red-roofed building that serves as his workshop and studio gallery is like stepping into a magical place where hand-sculpted depictions of birds, animals, fiddlehead ferns and angels come alive in many forms. You will be struck by his artistic flair with wood carving and sculpture as demonstrated in a striking panel depicting an angel escorting a soul to heaven, entitled, “Ascent.” O’Toole says, “it was a challenging work that required careful use of a chisel in shaping features like the angel’s fingers.”
Using mostly basswood as raw material, you will find displays of his original sculpted “fiddlehead” furniture pieces, saluting New Brunswick’s edible fern that sprouts along the banks of the St. John River in the spring, and named for its violin-shaped head. You will find headboards, benches and sideboards with this distinctive fiddlehead carving, along with intricately carved wooden doors and wildlife carvings, all reflecting his unique and painstakingly carved creations.
With its wrap-around porch, bright flower beds and tiny flags twirling in the breeze, his rustic gallery evokes a comfortable country ambience. He proudly points out the lavishly sculpted front door, and once inside, its wall-to-wall arts and crafts, from letter openers to furniture.
Fanciful birdhouses are one of his favourites, and you will also see them mounted outside the gallery. O’Toole also displays and sells the work of other local crafts people, everything from stained glass novelties, colourful candles, jewelry, botanical flowers, greeting cards and original art and prints.
Trees provide the material he uses to create an original work of art. Gently handled by the practiced hands of the sculptor, a nondescript chunk of wood can be transformed into something beautiful, a sort of reincarnation, if you will.
Mr. O’Toole remembers the first major sculpture he completed; he surprised himself, he says, by the caliber of the work. “Golly,” he said, “did I really do that?” Yes, he did, and he has continued on to become one of New Brunswick’s accomplished wood sculptors. A craftsman for more than 25 years, he can look back on a very satisfying and successful career.
When his wife gave him a gift of wood-carving instruments a few years ago, neither of them realized where it would lead. O’Toole quickly developed a grasp of how to use them... and the rest is, as they say, history. A self-taught woodworking artisan and sculptor, “I just seemed to have a knack for it,” he says, “and I picked things up as I went along.”
Kerry O’Toole believes that trees are a gift from the Creator. “If you believe in God – and I do – you have to believe that such art is inspired by the Creator. I’m just the instrument giving expression”.
You can check this unique work for yourself, just across the St. John River from Woodstock, at Grafton – look for the workshop and gallery with piles of huge logs out back to find the award-winning creations inside - a salute to New Brunswick’s reputation as Canada’s “fine crafts country.”
KERRY O’TOOLE
Woodcarver/Sculpture
O’TOOLE GALLERY
37 Clarke St.
Grafton
506-328-6207