Pulling The Rabbit Out of The Wood

 
First Wonderland sand art and now the Huntsville Botanical Gardens brings us Wonderland chainsaw carving! Earlier this month I had the pleasure of watching Roark Phillips at work on a 6 foot carving of the White Rabbit, as the Gardens continued the journey down the rabbit hole.

 
A quick and skilled worker, Phillips "pulled the rabbit out of the wood" in two short days. That's his pun by the way. 

 
Roark has been working on chainsaw carvings since 2006. He told his audience at the Gardens that it was a spur of the moment decision and he simply began carving one day. He told his wife he was headed out to go carve a bear - and so he did.



Phillips also created the smaller White Rabbit carving that has been hanging around in the Gardens for a few months now. This is his big brother being worked on in these photos.
  

Chainsaw carving is certainly the most entertaining sculpture to watch during creation. Large chunks of wood fall away and sawdust fills the air while a great wailing is heard. Even the smell is exciting- a mixture of gasoline and the crisp, clean fragrance of cut wood.

I'll be posting video soon, and I'll update this blog when I do. Phillips had a camera set up and I'm look forward to seeing his video.

 

Above, a couple sits in the shade, watching the artist work, while below the crowd begins to gather to see Roark Phillips and to play in Wonderland.

 

 

Start

Middle

Finish!

I hope you'll continue to join me on my journey down the rabbit hole. The Hsv Botanical Gardens has some wonderful little areas set up in Wonderland. Be sure and visit them, and check back here for more photos of my journey along with some an upcoming Wonderland photo shoot.