What adjectives come to mind when you think of a chainsaw?
Sharp? High-powered? Deadly?
How about expressive?
That’s the word artist and tree carver Simon O’Rourke uses for the toothed tool often used to speed up wood cutting or scare people in horror films.
“Using a chainsaw to shape and create something of beauty has a poetic justice to it,” he said. “The noise and mess are almost a mask for the gentle shaping of the wood it allows. The chainsaw also works as fast as I can think, which makes it feel more like I’m sketching or painting with big expressive strokes.”
With each flourish of one of his 18 chainsaws, O’Rourke finds a way to bring life to a lifeless object. Take, for example, The Giant Hand of Vyrnwy, a mammoth 50-foot sculpture he carved out of the tallest tree in Wales.
The hand is jaw-dropping to look at, but there’s more to the sculpture than initially meets the eye. There’s also a story. Because while O’Rourke is a tree carver, first and foremost, he’s a storyteller.
“I hold being able to tell a story with higher importance than the ability to shape the wood,” he said.
In his research for the Vyrnwy project, O’Rourke discovered the woodland area surrounding the tree was known as the Giants of Vyrnwy. That’s what initially got him thinking of a giant hand — the sculpture would be a way to symbolize the giants and the tree’s last attempt to reach for the sky.
O’Rourke’s artistic abilities stem from his degree in illustration, and his comfort with a chainsaw developed while helping a friend out with a tree surgery business. When he saw someone use a chainsaw to carve a piece of art, O’Rourke had to give it a try. His first piece was a “pretty awful” mushroom for his Mum, but he was hooked on the process. He launched his tree carving business in 2005 and has been creating sculptures of humans, wildlife, and fantasy creatures ever since.
O’Rourke only carves wood from trees that fell naturally or are diseased, and he pays into a planting scheme that helps offset any wood he uses.
As a child, he was drawn to the pictures in his books that brought the story to life on the page. He works to bring that same feeling to his sculpture. With his Brother Ambrose piece (left photo, below), he wanted viewers to first catch the eyes, then be drawn into the body language, position, and surroundings.
Each piece helps tell a story.
“A monk with a book on his lap gazing into the distance gives us the feel that something has disturbed his reading,” O’Rourke said, “and that sense of wanting to know what has caught his attention, or even what is he thinking, draws us into the story.”
In addition to The Giant Hand, some of his favorite pieces include the Spirit of Ecstasy (center photo, below) — the iconic figure found on the front of Rolls Royce automobiles — and The Marbury Lady (right photo, below) — in homage to an old ghost story popularized in the area.
For those inspired by O’Rourke’s work and eager to try their hand at carving, he offers two valuable pieces of advice.
“Plan it first!” he said. “And be really aware that any tool that cuts wood will cut you much easier.”
