World Champion KY Wood Sculptor Also Teaches

I have seen Owensboro's Aaron Kizer paint a portrait of Johnny Cash in, like, five minutes...and UPSIDE DOWN--the painting, not Aaron. And it was a breathtaking sight to behold.

And I didn't know something like that was on my bucket list until I put it there AFTER his "performance." So I added another--a bucket list item INSPIRED by Kizer's brilliance. I have always wanted to see a similar event but with a SCULPTOR in the spotlight.

I have no idea if Breckenridge County's Abby Peterson will be doing that in the near or distant future, but I'd like to be there after what I've seen from this extraordinary world champion artist.

Yeah, something like that. I'll sit there 30 minutes and watch him, and I bet the time would fly. Obviously, considering the medium, five minutes is a bit much to ask to sculpt just about anything that you people to see without the services of a magnifying glass. But yes, I'd happily watch Peterson work. He blows my mind. And, honestly, he strikes me as the Bob Ross of wood sculpting. A butter knife? Sure. But what about a chainsaw?

Last summer, after taking an 8-foot log and transforming it into a leaping elk, Peterson won the Chetwynd Chainsaw Carving World Championship in British Columbia. (This is a great profile of Abby Peterson, but if you want to skip ahead and see his magnificent elk, it's at the 1:37 mark.)

But Abby Peterson isn't just here to create these amazing works of art; he also hosts a studio where others can learn and perfect their craft. His friend, Chris Foltz, from whom he commissioned a massive elephant statue teaches that class.

And if you are interested in wood sculpting, you can actually call Peterson directly. I'm not sure how often he hosts these classes, but there's his number:

The thing about artists like Abby Peterson, Chris Foltz, and SO many others--yes, I'll throw Bob Ross in there, too--is how easy they make it look.

I would LOVE to sculpt wood, but I didn't even discover I had ANY kind of artistic ability until I sat down with my first computer's paint program. I'm thinking Abby would like his class to move a little faster than it would if I was there.