Iris Bidinosti and Barry Monzelman, local carvers, will be competing
The 2024 Prairie Canada Carving Expo will be taking place in Winnipeg on April 19 to 21 and local carvers Iris Bidinosti and Barry Monzelman of Selkirk’s Catfish Carvers will be competing. They invite residents to stop by and check out the competition which sees carvers from all over the region create some inspiring pieces.
Iris Bidinosti
Bidinosti is a bark carver who uses thick pieces of bark to create intricate pieces of sculptural art.
She says that she started carving nearly two decades ago and was encouraged after joining the Catfish Carvers, a carving group that meets at the Gordon Howard Centre.
“I started carving here in 2005 and Dr. Ian Reid was our guru kind of. It was him that encouraged us carvers to compete in the carving competition,” she explained.
She got her start in carving when her younger brother gave her a carving knife and and a carving lesson and told her to give it a go.
“I had taken lessons in woodcarving birds and some animals, but I took one in bark and I fell in love with it. And I entered [my first Prairie Canada Carving Expo] in 2007. I think it was in the novice category and I won a ribbon and I’ve been entering ever since,” said Bidinosti.
She took a break during COVID restrictions when the competition was cancelled and this is her first year back competing. She says that she waited until she had a couple of pieces that she really liked before she decided to compete again.
Bidinosti says that she gets inspiration from other carvers, carving magazines, and classes. This is one of the reasons that visiting a carving competition can spark creativity.
“I’ve been doing it for almost 20 years; you start to develop your own style. Sometimes when I get a piece of bark, and I look at it, and it’s all jagged and it just speaks to me, you know, this is going to be house and this is going to be a tree,” she said.
She is entering two pieces into the carving competition. The first one ‘Cave Dwellers’ is inspired by historic sites in Arizona where the people lived in caves.
Bidinosti’s other piece is called Shaded Shacks and this was one of the pieces that she said was an unusual shape and the shape inspired the art.
She says that she goes back to the Prairie Canada Carving Expo year after year because she is interested in what other people are up to and likes the feedback.
“After the judging is over, you can actually speak to the judges who critique your carving, so usually you learn something more,” said Bidinosti.
She recommends that other carvers who are interested check out the competition which she says has a friendly atmosphere where people are open to sharing.
“There are some absolutely gorgeous pieces of carving out there. There’re birds that you look at and it looks like they’re ready to fly away,” said Bidinosti
Barry Monzelman
Monzelman is a more traditional style carver than Bidinosti but he doesn’t limit himself to birds and animals. His sculptures are carved into solid wood and reflect a wide range of carving styles clearly inspired by work from all over the world.
“I joined this group [the Catfish Carvers] in 2015 and they said, ‘Hey, why don’t you compete?’ It’s a good thing to do because it gives you something to aim for and a date. You’re a lot more productive when you’ve got that,” said Monzelman.
He entered the Prairie Canada Carving Expo for the first time in 2016 and has entered the competition every year since except for the years that the pandemic paused the event.
Mozelman competes in the open category and though he’s been competing for 8 or so years he’s been carving much longer.
“Close to 50 years ago but I didn’t have that much time for doing carving,” he said.
He says that he draws his inspiration a lot from myth and fantasy.
“We did a Scandinavian cruise and i saw they were heavy on vikings so I did a viking [carving],” said Mozelman.
The piece that he’s created for the competition this year is called ‘Foresight’ and is an Owl piece that he’s lightly painted in a way that brings out the positive features of the wood.
“Owls are venerated among our Indigenous peoples in the plains and on the coast as well for having foresight and they can forecast the weather and they’re the wise owl. So, it’s actually got four eyes and that’s made with gold oil paint and then in the chest there’s more and each wing there’s like more. They’re looser and look like feathers, but they’re sort of like eyes,” he said.
Mozelman spoke about how competitions, like the Prairie Canada Carving Expo, are something that’s fun and drive you to improve but he also enjoys the local Catfish Carvers group because of the ability to chat with others for advice and to find out what other people are up to.
He says that people who may be interested in carving or who are carvers in our community might enjoy going to the Prairie Canada Carving Expo even if they aren’t competing.
“The idea is to see what other people do. Like any artist, you get ideas from other people. You see what people do and so yeah, I encouraged them to go,” said Mozelman.
The 2024 Prairie Canada Carving Expo takes place from April 19 to 21 at the Pembina Curling Club in Winnipeg. For more information about the event as well as a schedule of activities check out their website at prairiecanadacarvers.com/events/#PCCA_show. If you can only attend the event for one day Bidinosti and Monzelman both agreed that Sunday is the day that you want to check it out.
