ST

Newsletter

November 2002 - January 2003
Greetings from the Editor
Meetings resumed

The meetings have resumed Oct 3,2002 and many of our members that live up north have started coming down, to enjoy the warm weather of South Texas.

Rio Grande Valley Woodcarving Show - January 17 & 18 2003

Our annual Rio Grande Valley Woodcarving Show will be held January 17 & 18 2003 at the McAllen Civic Center

All preparations have been made and we still need a few volunteers to help at the entrance door also inside security. Contact Maxine Blanchard.

New this year for our judged carvings the winners will be given 1st 2nd 3rd and honorary lapel pins and certificates.

Rally On The Rio - January 20 through 26 2003

Our Rally On The Rio (Woodcarving instruction week) will be held January 20 through 26 2003.

Last minute details are being finalized. I wish to thank all of our members who helped out last year and am looking forward to having help from the members again this year.

We are so fortunate in having so many of the best woodcarvers teaching at our Rally.

Please go over the instructors listed on the Web, as there are a few that did not make the booklet.

Interesting Place

I will try and have an interesting place to visit each newsletter, so members if you know of one contact Elaine, so we can share the area with other carvers

Traveling along the beautiful St. Lawrence River in Quebec one can only marvel at the scenery of the river and the history that goes along with it. We heard of an area where there are a lot of woodcarvers and as we were close to the area we decided to stop and look at their work.

There was more than we expected as woodcarvers cover the entire town. The first thing you see near main street is a carving called "Life" which is a tree about 15 feet tall. It's branches are carvings with all stages of life from baby to death, all carved by Louis Ravoie. We met Louis Ravoie carving in the museum. The St Jean Port Joli museum is known to be the most prestigious wood carving museum in north America. There are exhibits of every aspects of wood carving and model ship building. Also included is a special homage to the artist Norman Rockwell whose paintings we all love so well, all carved by the talented artist. There was also many life size human carvings done by local artists.

This was a very interesting trip and getting there was also an experience

As we entered the Province of Quebec all road signs turned to French asking my wife Elaine “what did it say“? I can remember the last time 20 years ago I did the same thing when we entered Libya She gave me one of those looks and said give me a little time to remember it has been years since I spoke French

By the time we were ready to leave she was having no problem buying and talking to all she met

Elaine Craft