Published Sunday, August 25, 2002
FREDONIA
redwood ark wins big
Herald Staff Writer
Doug Hunter doesn't do much hunting, but he does keep a trained eye on animals.
The 40-year-old Fredonia man recently took home the People's Choice award in the Cook Forest Sawmill Center for the Arts' carving contest for his replica of Noah's Ark. The show's two top prizes are the People's Choice, chosen by visitors to the show, and the Best of Show, chosen by a panel of judges.
Hunter said the People's Choice is the really big one.
"Every person at the exhibit gets to vote on which they think is best," he said. "One of the guys told me that I won by a lot."
Hunter said he started building his Noah's Ark out of redwood about 8 years ago when his son, who was 3 at the time, began showing interest in the Bible story.
"He was just curious about the different animals and size of the ark," Hunter said.
One Sunday while reading the Bible in church, Hunter said he saw the actual dimensions of the ark and used them to figure out the size of a smaller ark in terms of feet. Every inch of Hunter's ark represents six feet of Noah's.
Hunter has since carved 280 pairs of animals, all from walnut and made to the same scale as he used for the ark. He initially carved 12 animals each year to give to his son at Christmas.
The animals stand in front of the ark. The smallest is the ring-tailed lemur at about a quarter of an inch long. The largest is a pair of rhinoceroses
"The animals are what makes it stand out and makes it unusual," he said.
Hunter does all of the work himself, precisely painting his animals from photographs contained in resources such as the National Audobon Society's Guide to National Wildlife.
"When I paint them, I copy exactly, not just in the generic sense, but I copy the pattern as closely as I can," he said.
He considers himself more a wildlife artist than a religious one. Hunter creates his wildlife images using basic woodcarving knives -- mainly a big one and a smaller one.
Carving is something he picked up during his senior year in college after deciding one day that he wanted try it. That was 19 years ago.
"I've done it a long time, but I never went the route of entering contests," he said. For a long time, he said, his wife, Jennie and friends had encouraged him to try it.
Because Hunter never took a carving classes or subscribed to a woodcarving magazine, he considers his style unique; it hasn't been influenced by other styles. In addition to the ark, he's done a number of Christmas scenes, including nativity sets for family and friends. He's even sold a few carvings.
"I did a nativity set for my mother and every family member saw it and wanted one. I've sold a couple of things, but I don't really like doing things for family because then I don't like charging what it's worth," he said.
Hunter's son for whom he started the ark project is now 12. Now Hunter said he wants to start something for his 3-year-old daughter -- perhaps an Amish farm -- but he's waiting to see what her interests are.