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Chainsaw carver cuts loose in P.G.

Chainsaws roared and the smell of sweet cedar dust filled the air on the front lawn of Studio 2880 this week. One of Canada's rising star chainsaw carvers, Randy Gauthier, was passing through the city.
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Chainsaw carver Randy Gauthier put his talents to work outside Studio 2880 on Wednesday.

Chainsaws roared and the smell of sweet cedar dust filled the air on the front lawn of Studio 2880 this week.

One of Canada's rising star chainsaw carvers, Randy Gauthier, was passing through the city. He stopped to spend a few days with his 16-year-old daughter Tianna, and decided to lighten the load of wood in the back of his carving truck.

He got in touch with the Community Arts Council, operators of the Studio 2880 facility on 15th Avenue, and they gave him the work space.

"One of our board members, Ivan Paquet, brought us together," said CAC executive director Wendy Young. "We found out that as soon as his art is made, it sells. His carvings go like hotcakes. He is self-sufficient, with a trailer he pulls around like a portable cabin and workshop all in one. We were happy to enable him to do some work in Prince George."

Gauthier is from the Saulteau First Nation at Moberly Lake, a couple of hours north of the city and in the hotbed of the chainsaw carving movement based in Chetwynd. There he was a learning assistant to Japan's Hiromu Kurita and Australia's Robbie Bast.

Gauthier rose to prominence by coming second in his division at a competition this past spring in Campbell River.

He was commissioned then to stay on in Campbell River for 10 more days doing more work, then got projects in Kamloops and Bella Coola before coming here.

"I'm kind of a wandering generality," he said, with additional learning missions set up later this summer in the United States and Ontario, as well as another competition in Hope in a couple of weeks up against some of the biggest names in the business - names you might hear on the hit TV show Carver Kings.

"Ryan Cook (of Williams Lake, one of the Carver King personalities) is kind of the golden boy of carving right now," Gauthier said. "That is good for all of us. It has been a positive step for all chainsaw carvers. Now that I'm meeting these people, the elite circle of carvers, I want to be one of them. I'm doing this full-time."

He said he learns new things about the tools and the techniques every time he works on a piece, and he never loses his appreciation for the wood itself.

All his pieces are for sale on the spot, he said, and he invited anyone interested in watching him work or talking about the art form to feel free to come observe him at the Studio 2880 complex.