Barry Konzelman and Iris Bidinosti take home wins at huge carving competition
Prairie Canada Carving Competition is one of North America’s premier competitions. With hundreds of entries from carvers across the prairies, and even some from farther out, the competition is tight. Two local carvers, Barry Konzelman and Iris Bidinosti, represented the local Selkirk carving group, the Catfish Carvers, bringing home ribbons from the event.
The Catfish Carvers are a local carving group that works out of the Gordon Howard Centre. They’ve been carving together for well over 20 years and have some very talented members who carve in all kinds of styles.
Barry Konzelman and Iris Bidinosti took home ribbons from the Prairie Canada Carving Competition
Barry Konzelman
Konzelman took home a best of category ribbon and was in a three-way tie for the Carver’s Choice award for his dragon carving.
“It’s Chinese Double Dragons, and I’ve had that piece of wood for 45 years, and finally thought of a place to put it,” said Konzelman.
He said that the carving now makes its home above the doors to his dining room and that he took inspiration from Chinese traditions. His dragons actually have the traits of nine different animals that create the mythical dragon, and the carving took him about 160 hours to make.
“The dragons are good luck, and even though they look vicious, they’re a good thing to have around,” said Konzelman.
He explained that his work is inspired by the world around him, and he’s done carvings in many different styles, trying to learn from carvers all over the world.
“I’m always looking for ideas. A number of years ago, I went to Scandinavia, and I thought, ‘I want to carve a Viking,’ so I did two of those, and I haven’t done any since. I’m always looking for ideas, or something I see in nature inspires me, so I move around from thing to thing, so there’s no single theme in what I do,” he explained.
He said that there will never be another carving like this from him in part because he likes to change subjects, but also because he’ll never find a beautiful piece of cherry wood just like this one again.
Konzelman has been carving since his early 20s Though his father was a carpenter and he picked up some skill from him, Konzelman explained that he didn’t really start carving as he has been now until he retired.
“Now I have more time for it, and then I found out about this group (several years back), and it’s a great way to get (inspired) with a group of like-minded people. That’s why people join clubs, of course,” said Konzelman.
His advice for people just starting with carving is that you can do quite a bit with very little equipment and that older resources are just as good as new ones.
“You can do a lot just with a single good carving knife, even a jack knife. You can whittle so you can do a lot with that. . . we have lots of resources here, in terms of magazines, mostly older, but it doesn’t matter, they’re timeless,” he said.
Though the Carvers are a community group and Konzelman says they don’t offer lessons, he invites residents who’d like to join a group of like-minded crafters for some tea, conversation, and project work to check out the Catfish Carvers.
“You get ideas from other people and critiques,” he said.
As of now, Konzelman is ruminating on his next project as he finished the previous one several weeks ago.
“I think I’m going to do Green Man, which is European (folklore). It’s like a man peering through the forest at you, and there are leaves all over his face. I think that’s what I’m going to do, but it’s still gelling in my head,” he said.
Iris Bidinosti
Bidinosti is a bark carver who creates magical spaces that can only be dreamed up in her imagination. This year, she took home a first place ribbon in open competition from the Prairie Canada Carving Competition.
“It’s out of cottonwood bark, and a lot of people do spirit faces out of bark. I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with that, but I like to do houses, castles, lighthouses, and now the one I did is an ancient home,” she said.
Her submission this year is her take on the cliff dwellers in what is now Arizona.
“You can still go there, it’s a national park at this point, and see the ruins. I deal with big hunks of bark, and it just seemed like the perfect thing to carve because I can hollow it out well and form the houses. It’s a little different from my other whimsical houses, but this is the second one I’ve done, and I might do another one,” she said.
She said that taking classes really helps when starting to find her inspiration.
“You get ideas that the instructor is teaching. I also have a book of carving that’s written by a really well-renowned bark carver, his name is Rick Jensen. He’s from the States, and I’ve actually taken three classes with him. When I go to a carving show, and there is bark carving, I take pictures, so I can get inspired by other people’s ideas. Also, I’ve carved bark since 2007, so ideas kind of evolve and come out of your head. Also, when I look at a piece of bark, I can kind of visualize what’s in there, and all you have to do is get rid of the excess,” she explained.
Bidinosti has been carving wood since 2005 and has plenty of advice to share.
“Join a carving group if you can, if there’s one in your area, and hopefully get some instruction from other members. But, if you can take classes, to me, that really has been helpful, because every time you take a class, you learn something new, which you can incorporate into whatever you’re carving,” she said.
She also feels that, as a carver, entering your work in a competition like the Prairie Canada Carving Competition has a multitude of benefits.
“It gives you an idea of how you stack up against other people, and when you go to a competition, there’s always a lot of other pieces of your type of carving, and you get ideas,” she said.
She hopes that any carvers who are in the community, who’d like to check out the Catfish Carvers, stop by the Gordon Howard Centre for more information.
“You’ll find carvers are generally very friendly people. We don’t have a thing about keeping techniques or secrets to ourselves. We’re very willing to share,” said Bidinosti.
The Prairie Canada Carving Competition is hosted by the Prairie Canada Carvers Association annually. To learn more about the competition and the Prairie Canada Carvers Association, visit prairiecanadacarvers.ca.
