A Proud Talent
Chainsaw sculptor’s unusual talent blossoms into extraordinary career

Story by
Tracy Drake
Southeast Ohio Magazine Spring 2001

                David Ferguson was strolling though a wooded area along the Little Kanawha River in northern West Virginia when he stumbled upon a long stick. He picked up the branch to walk with-something his father used to do.

                But on this day in November ten years ago, David felt an urge to whittle. He had cut timber with a chainsaw for Ohio Edison after high school before joining the Merchant Marines, but he had never carved anything. "I've always liked working with wood. I whittled that stick for nearly three days," he says. "Then I stood back and looked at it and said, 'That is absolutely terrible'." He isn't sure what he expected, but it wasn't the rough-cut, dull assortment of animals like snakes and birds he whittled all along the stick.

                The stick David encountered that day caused him to explore a talent that eventually became a thriving career for him. He was at a turning point in his life - he was between jobs and wasn't sure what his next step would be.

                So he whittled.

                After he carved that crudely made walking stick, using only a box cutter razor blade, a carpenter's chisel, and a rubber mallet, David became captivated by whittling wood. He searched for information about wood carving at the library. The first book he read, Whittling, by Bill Higginbotham, became part of a collection of hundreds of books and magazines. David says he is self-taught through books.

                David continued to perfect his whittling skills, focusing on walking sticks and wood spirits. After honing his craft for nearly a year, he took some of his pieces to local flea markets and weekend festivals.

                "I wanted to see if I could make some money at it," he says. "After all, I was consumed with it. I was whittling almost 'round the clock.'' He soon realized that people liked the things he made and were eager to buy them.

                While his hobby was gratifying, he wanted to find - a way to make woodcarvings faster and bigger, to turn a quicker profit. Faced with a new turning point, he says he learned to uae chainsaws at Ohio Edison, which he thought may come in handy. 'He got some wood from Buffalo Dick Bailey (the name comes from the strong resemblance to the legendary cowboy Buffalo Bill Cody), who told David he was more than welcome to the wood in his 100-acre stretch of land outside of Parkersburg. Using his own chainsaw, he began. For two weeks the sawdust scattered and the chainsaw buzzed. The finished product was a four-foot bear.

                He can now carve the same thing in 35 to 40 minutes.

                After whittling and carving for a few more years, David got a business license in 1995. He started carving full time for his business, D.Whittlings, located in Williamstown, West Virginia. He runs the business with his wife, Mary, and his 17-year-old daughter, Katie.

                Mary says she had doubts about David's initial obsession with whittling. "I sort of laughed at the first stick he whittled," Mary says. But she encouraged it because she could tell he loved it by his persistence in perfecting his skill. The family has a great appreciation for art. Mary oil paints and Katie whittles and makes pottery. Mary knew David liked to draw but did not know of his secret passion for wood.

                David's life has become a daily chaos of scattering sawdust, the roar of the chainsaw, and the intense creativity of the mind. He still whittles magical-looking wood spirits, jubilant little figurines and small carvings of animals. He uses chainsaws to carve large pieces-mostly American Indians, majestic totem poles, and animals like bears and fish that he portrays with an innocence of the old wilderness, before explorers and pioneers ravaged through it.

                David's carving process begins with a rough sketch, photo, or figurine of what he wants to create. He then selects a log from the wood he keeps in stock in his shop. David uses white pine, which he says is ideal for carving because it cracks less than other types of wood. White pine also has virtually no place on the market except for pulp. Friends of David's; who run a timber company in Ohio, sell white pine to him if they find it while extracting other timber because they have no use for it.

                After cutting the log to length, which varies depending on the project, David stands the log upright and looks at the profile of the sketch or photo. "Focusing is important to me because my mind can easily wander. When you are using chainsaws, that isn't a good thing." Keeping in mind the profile, David intently begins to carve out a rough profile of his new creation. With each swing of the chainsaw, the log transforms bit by bit into an animal. Each mark made by the saw has to fit with the others, forming intricate patterns representing fur, scales or wings for whatever animal it is meant to be. From the general profile to the small details like the curvature of the mouth, the beadiness of the eyes, or the size of the limbs, David's gaze remains intent on the wood he is personifying.

                "Each stroke of the chainsaw is deliberately made and carefully executed," says Guy Tessum, a friend and customer of David's. "As a piece nears completion, he will stalk around it, chainsaw buzzing, looking for that extra cut to add a bit of character to the sculpture." Guy, who owns Tessum Business Services, has his own bear sculpted by David in his front yard.

                The small details combine to portray a wealth of personality that differs with each sculpture. Each carving has a different expression-some cheery, some solemn, and some detached. David can go from a huggable bear to a mystical wood spirit to a somber-faced American Indian. He says many of the expressions are good indications of what he was feeling at the time he was working on them. "You can tell a good day from a bad day," he says, laughing.

                David creates anything from tiny wooden human figurines to eagles, owls, squirrels, fish, and flamingos. Mary sometimes paints the carvings, using bright colors like red, blue, green, and yellow.

                "It's the feeling of creating that is so self-satisfying to me," David says, displaying his pride. "Each project is totally up to you, and you finish with an attractive piece of art."

                Artistry is important to David, while he is also a businessman. Though he is the last to admit it, his talent and business have made him somewhat of a celebrity in northern West Virginia and southeastern Ohio. His bear sculptures, known as "Ferguson Bears," have become his signature carving. They are consistent in design, but each has a uniqueness that comes straight from David himself. He makes carvings for people in his shop and will also carve them onsite from cut-down trees.

                Despite the beauty of creating and the enjoyment it brings, there is a business aspect to David's talent. He spends most days filling orders, completing sales and taking new orders. Although carving began as a hobby for him, it is now his livelihood. But David says he hasn't lost the initial ambition to create, despite it being more than an amusement for him now. David says the business aspect behind his art- the fact that it supports his family- actually fuels his creativity. And he says he hasn't lost the same desire to create, which he had ten years ago.

                "I call that burning out, and it hasn't happened to me," he says. "I have a great love for what I do, and if I have an order of twelve bears to fill, for example, I can stop halfway and do whatever my heart feels like making. It can be tedious, like writing a long paper, but I work for myself so I can carve what I want." David says this creative freedom takes the pressure off the businessman in him and makes him remember how much he enjoys carving.

                Guy says David is true to his profession. "How do I perceive Dave Ferguson? He's full of talent, has a heart of gold, and stands by his principles. He has turned commission work away because he didn't feel the subject was 'family-ready.' Of course, as a professional he has to constantly produce new carvings, but at heart, Dave considers himself a wood artist and sculptor. You really see the artistry when you actually see him working."

                "It is a business," David admits. "You have to do what you have to do. But I love what I have to do."

                One of David's biggest and most rewarding projects consisted of the seven sculptures he did for the city of Marietta in 1998. A line of violent thunderstorms ravaged the mid-Ohio valley that spring and damaged or destroyed numerous trees. Through the grapevine, the head of the tree commission for Marietta, Marilyn Ort, heard of David's talents. She asked him to salvage some of the partially destroyed trees in Marietta's parks by sculpting them.

                "To her this was a terrible disaster," David recalls. "She approached city council for permission, and city council allowed me to do one trial carving."

                Marilyn says the irony was that the night of the storm she had read an article about an Artsbridge Founders Award given to a local artist named David Ferguson for a bear he sculpted in City Park in Parkersburg. Several weeks prior to that, she had visited a park in Illinois that had several wooden carvings. "I said, 'If we ever have a tree that is damaged, that's what we ought to do in Marietta.'"

                Marilyn says David came up with a proposal of his ideas and suggestions of what he would like to do with some of the trees. David quickly went to work on his project, which resulted in seven different carvings in seven small Marietta parks. He carved bears, fish, and small critters. One of  these most recognized sculptures, a fourteen-foot-high, four - foot - wide carving of a pioneer and American Indian, sits at Camp Tupper, looking toward the mouths of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers. This carving is special to David because as he was carving it, he came upon a spot of darkened wood where the American Indian's heart would be. This symbolized the carving's meaning-a portrayal of the rich American Indian history in the region.

                "Thirty feet away from that carving is an American Indian ceremonial mound," David explains. "The Indian is holding a clay pipe, and the pioneer is holding a club given by the Indian." The pioneer looks west toward what was once the new frontier.

Marilyn adds that many people still thank David for the work he did for Marietta. (He later sculpted a bear in a different Parkersburg park, commissioned by Parkersburg Mayor Jimmy Colombo.)

                She also agrees that David's profession is more than just a business. "It's a business, but he also does private carvings, which speaks to the fact that he genuinely enjoys art and is proud of his skill and talent."

                David is also quite charitable. He occasionally does projects for charity auctions throughout the region and recently was invited to attend the annual Mid-Winter Chainsaw Rendezvous in Ridgeway, Pennsylvania. David says it was a high honor because he got to join 59 of the best carvers in the world. Together, the group raised $12,000 with carvings, all of which goes to the Make-A- Wish Foundation. A bear table David created recently for an Artsbridge auction sold for $500. The money is used to fund art programs in schools in Washington and Wood counties.

                David is also a featured artist with Tamarack, an elite cultural center in Beckley, West Virginia. He does demonstrations at fairs and festivals. United States Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia has commended him for his extraordinary work.

                His latest venture is with www.mountainmade.com, an e-commerce program in West Virginia that allows him to sell his work in cyberspace.

                A testimony to David's pride in his achievements, he often tries to track down his original carvings and repurchase them from their owners. "I traded a $95 carving once for one of my first carvings that I sold for $16," he says. He and his wife display many of his carvings throughout their home.

Figurines, wood spirits, American Indians, and small animals all have special spots.

                David wants to keep carving until he can't anymore-a declaration of his passionate devotion to his work. "We are so blessed that we can do the things we do," he says with a smile. "The key to my success has been hard work and faith in God. And it's easy when you love what you do." He admits his only regret is that he didn't realize his potential sooner.

                Numerous awards and newspaper clippings now adorn one wall of David's "office" in his home in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Next to them is his computer, which sits alongside a built-in bookshelf filled with some of his earliest smaller carvings, along with the hundreds of photos, magazines, and books he owns. It is a typical home office until one notices the workbench and chainsaw links along the opposite wall of the bookshelf. It's an inconsistency matched only by the fact that no two of his sculptures or carvings are exactly alike.

                Also tucked away in David's home stands the carving of which he may be most proud. It isn't a towering totem or an intricate wood spirit. It's the first walking stick he whittled. "God led me to that stick," he says. "That thing changed my entire life. I have been so lucky." He says when he took that first job after high school using a chainsaw, it was God's way of paving a path for him that eventually would lead to his happiness now. "God has a plan for us all," he says.