Woodworkers show off art that calls to be handled and used

LANGLEY — Pat it. Stroke it. Sit your butt down on it.

Sculptor Pat McVay wants you to do more than just look at his art.

“Some people may have a sign that says ‘Do Not Touch,’” the Clinton artist said. “Mine’s the opposite: Please climb all over it. I like people to interact with it.”

His wooden creations beg for it, whether it’s the 7-foot-tall baseball mitt chair in South Whidbey Community Park or a statue of a gangster holding out his derby hat as an ashtray at the Seattle waterfront pier.

McVay, 64, has done hundreds of pieces in his 40 years armed with a saw.

He is among 20 artists at this weekend’s “Woodpalooza” by Whidbey Island Woodworkers Guild. Carvers, boat builders and musical instrument makers will be on hand to show off their unique skills.

The free, three-day event is a chance to meet the artists and try to figure out what makes them tick.

“Most of the world doesn’t know we exist,” guild spokesman Gary A. Leake said.

Woodworking is often a solitary practice, with the artists holed up in studios with hunks of wood and power tools.

Yeah, even their families can take their amazing talents for granted.

“My son’s friends come over and they say, ‘Wow, your dad does this?’ And they want to know all about it and he says, ‘Let’s go play video games,’” McVay said. “Same thing from my wife. Oh, just another sculpture.”

His themes are flowers and birds, sports and fishermen.

“I like to challenge myself with different styles,” he said. “Every day I have to make something. That’s the curse of self-employment. And it’s something I really love.”

A brother, sister and nephew are also chain-saw artists, each with a different style.

“After I use a chain saw, then I use smaller saw, then a smaller saw, then a sander, then I get out a little chisel and other tools,” McVay said. “All the wood I use is salvage. Wood that blew down in storms or from the road department widening the road.”

About 200 of his carvings of fishermen, diners, waiters, gangsters and movie stars are on Seattle’s Pier 57. Several are atop the roof hauling fish into a boat. The sea otter bench at Seattle Aquarium is also his doing.

His work is in parks and plazas from California to Canada.

McVay captures his subjects in a moment and puts an animated spin into their next step, bite or swing. A sculpture of man dining at a table wipes his face with a napkin. Two statues in a wine garden gossip. The life-sized carving of Babe Ruth is posed ready to slam a ball, right down to the action wrinkles in his uniform.

A man thrown backward by a tsunami of junkmail from a mailbox is a whimsical favorite in Clinton. It’s by the post office.

McVay’s art can take a serious turn. In the South Whidbey park is Jesse’s Memorial Chair in memory of a teen killed in a car wreck. At the chair legs is a cat and soccer ball.

“He had a funny cat and he loved to read and he brought his ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ chair to school to do his book report,” McVay said. “I did a life-sized portrait of his chair and it overlooks where he played.”

By the baseball dugout is a bat 12 feet long and a ball 3 feet round that McVay gave the park in 2007.

“I cut my wrist accidentally with a very aggressive sander about eight years ago and it went all the way to the bone,” he said. “I couldn’t work for six months and almost lost my hand. The community threw a big benefit for me and it paid over half my medical expenses. And it picked my spirits up so much as a gift back I donated that to the park.”

The giant mitt has been on loan to the park for two years.

“It’s modeled after the mitt I used in high school and college. See how it’s all beat up?” McVay said. “You see bats with dents in them and balls with strings hanging out. That was the idea. I left tool marks on them. I wanted it to be distressed already. It’s like beat-up sports equipment that you’d see laying around in a park.”

McVay is uprooting the mitt to take to “Woodpalooza” to show and maybe sell. Asking price: $5,000.

Some fans might be hoping it doesn’t sell.

“It’s been a great addition to the park,” said Tom Fallon, park district facilities supervisor. “During the all-star season, kids from all the other areas we play just love it. They’re always taking pictures of it.”

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.

If you go

“Woodpalooza” is noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with a reception 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, Zech Hall, 565 Camano Ave., Langley.

Admission is free.

For more information: www.woodpalooza.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Sarah Jean Muncey-Gordon puts on some BITCHSTIX lip oil at Bandbox Beauty Supply on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Langley, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Bandbox Beauty was made for Whidbey Island locals, by an island local

Founder Sarah Muncey-Gordon said Langley is in a renaissance, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn, seen here in 2013, will perform April 20 in Edmonds. (Associated Press)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

R0ck ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, frontman of The Byrds, plans a gig in Edmonds in April.

Mother giving in to the manipulation her daughter fake crying for candy
Can children be bribed into good behavior?

Only in the short term. What we want to do is promote good habits over the course of the child’s life.

Speech Bubble Puzzle and Discussion
When conflict flares, keep calm and stand your ground

Most adults don’t like dissension. They avoid it, try to get around it, under it, or over it.

The colorful Nyhavn neighborhood is the place to moor on a sunny day in Copenhagen. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves: Embrace hygge and save cash in Copenhagen

Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue and lovingly decorated open-face sandwiches be the icons of a major capital?

Last Call is a festured artist at the 2024 DeMiero Jazz Festival: in Edmonds. (Photo provided by DeMiero Jazz Festival)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Jazz ensemble Last Call is one of the featured artists at the DeMiero Jazz Festival on March 7-9 in Edmonds.

Kim Helleren
Local children’s author to read at Edmonds Bookshop

Kim Helleren will read from one of her books for kids at the next monthly Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop on March 29.

Chris Elliott
Lyft surprises traveler with a $150 cleaning charge

Jared Hakimi finds a $150 charge on his credit card after a Lyft ride. Is that allowed? And will the charge stick?

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.