OCR Text |
Show Movies B5 The Daily Herald Ms Sunday, March 10, 1996 r'Jrti .i it tV H C- -- J . 1 tt. Daily Herald PhotoJason Although Rand Oertle hates to carve squir- he created these squirrels to show the process of their creation for a "how to" video he is making. He avoids taking orders to Olson carve squirrels because they no longer chal-rellenge him. He would rather carve bears. ? A f J f V f T if S i Springville wood carver to memorialize Tahoe tree By KAREN HOAG Special to The Daily Herald old Ponderosa pine A 400-yetree in California will be memorialized with a sculpture by Springville wood sculptor Rand E. Oertle. The sculptor heads for Tahoe City this spring to create a sculpture out of the tree. The pine was once a landmark in the middle of the main road in Tahoe. Oertle's design was chosen from 20 entries by other artisans by The Big Tree Memorial Committee. The public was in an uproar after CalTran (similar to the Utah Department of Transportation) began to cut the tree down because it was dying from drought and bark beetles. Oertle, who does wood sculpturing in Tahoe three to four months each year, watched the process for four years. "You have people who were very adamant, something like w hat happened with Academy Square in Provo," Oertle said. "It was a battle of community against state agencies. People threatened to chain themselves to the tree. They got a court injunction to stop CalTran from cutting down the tree. a People have a feeling for it sense of history." Community members and organizations joined forces to fund the monument and site preparation. "The tree was a landmark, a reference point in town," Oertle said. "People would say, 'Go a quarter mile past the tree' when giving directions." He allows that a tree in the middle of the road is dangerous, especially with snow on the roads. Eventually the tree was cut down; the site chosen for the memorial sculpture is next to a historical cabin in the center of Tahoe City. How did he decide on the design? "They are memorializing a tree, so I'm gonna do a tree," he quipped. He also includes wildlife indigenous to the area. His design features a tall pine tree with a bear cub climbing the trunk, a bald eagle (with a fish in his mouth so it symbolizes the lake) sitting atop a stump plus a stag and fawn standing at the base of the tree. A raccoon will be peeking his head out of a hole in the tree. Oertle estimates it will take ar 25-fo- ot about three months to carve the sculpture on site. Tourists will be invited to watch the process. With chainsaw in hand, Oertle will rough out the features of the tree, then shift to die grinders to complete the detail of the sculpture. "I use all power tools ... If I carved with a chisel it would take two years instead of three months," he said. What he worries about most with the tree sculpture is that "it is four times as tall as I am; I have to have some reference points like where the tree is, where the eagle sits and the deer." The tree is seven feet in diameter at the bottom and four and a half feet at the top. He will be working on scaffolding 25 feet tall. Oertle says he has done taller sculptures but was able like a to do them on the ground totem pole. Oertle and wife, Carol, moved to Springville with their seven children from Redding, Calif, four years ago. But his time in Tahoe brings the most orders for sculpturing. He takes the orders there and finishes them in Springville at his workshop on the Frontage Road along He has sent his wood sculptures all over the U.S. Oklahoma, New Jersey, California and Chicago as well as around Utah. Cedar is the favorite wood on which Oertle likes to carve. "It lasts better in weather if it's put outside," he says. Cedar is also lighter weight and has a golden color to which Oertle is partial. About every 18 months he orders a semi truckload of logs from California or Oregon. They range from 12 inches to 40 inches in diameter. The first step in wood sculpturing is roughing out the carvings. The next is a drying out period of two to four months. Oertle has at least 20 projects going at once during the wait time. Cracks appear during the dry out; the sculptor fills the cracks with other wood and sands the piece down. After the four month dry out there is not much danger of more dryness happening. "Wood picks up and releases moisture. When you wedge wood into the cracks it allows it to flex," he explained. (See WOOD, Page B2) Rand Oertle creates all his sculptures with power tools. Here he adds details to a sculpture after roughing it out with a chain sew. Left: Rand Oertle uses a chain saw to rough out an eagle that he is working on. use all power tools ... If I carved with a chisel it would take two years instead of three months." Springville sculptor Rand Oertle "I Below: This photo shows detail of the face of a sun carving that is part of a series on the seasons that Rand Oertle created. IT TT 17 TT" X4 y r v 1 V 'N rf -- A 7p Jsfy 7 I'M Ah ::; s, |