Carving an international reputation of quality

“We do a lot of bears,” Mike Rhodes will tell you about the chainsaw carving business that he and his daughter, Wendy, operate in rural St. Elmo.

Then, he will tell you, “We do a lot of dogs.”
Truth is, the Rhodeses have fashioned a lot of different types of animals, and other sculptures, with their works being on display all over the country. Their carvings are also in at least two foreign countries.
The father-daughter team began creating bears, dogs, ducks, fish, owls and other sculptures nine years ago, and next week, Mike and Wendy will be making their seventh appearance at the Illinois State Fair, to be followed with a return appearance at the DuQuoin State Fair.
Just recently, one of the works created by Bear Tracks Chainsaw Carving was put on display at an international museum.
On July 21, the Rhodeses were notified that their CPO Bear – the fourth such bear that the duo had created – had been delivered to the International Game Warden Museum near the Canada/North Dakota border.
Each state is allowed to have one piece in that museum, and the Rhodeses’ CPO Bear – which was carved out of a 6-foot-by-30-inch piece of wood – is Illinois’ representative.
Mike and Wendy were asked to carve out a fourth conservation officer bear dressed in full uniform after the other three had drawn rave reviews from those who wear that uniform.
It all started when Eric Bumgarner of the Illinois’ conservation police presented Mike and Wendy a drawing of a conservation officer bear in workout clothes, and asked them to create one in a similar pose, but in full uniform.
The final product was delivered to Springfield, “and when we took it up there, everyone was having their photo taken with it,” Mike said.
Among those in the photos were officers with the Springfield Police Department, which asked them for a similar bear in one of their uniforms.
A third request came from the state conservation official who succeeded Bumgarner. And then came the one for a state conservation bear for the international museum.
The bears’ uniforms are complete with the badges and patches that are on the officers’ uniforms. “I carve those out so they look like embroidery,” said Wendy.
“One of the things they like about it,” Wendy said, “is that the bear was carved from a tree that came from Conservation World on the (state fair) fairgrounds.”
The bears are carved out of catalpa, one of the types of wood used most by the Rhodes duo, which began carving with chainsaws about nine years ago. They were on a family vacation in Minnesota when they saw someone performing chainsaw carving.
“I was fascinated by it … and I still am,” Wendy said.
“I decided that it was something that I wanted to do, and when I told my dad, he said, ‘If my daughter can do it, I can do it.’”
Mike Rhodes was accustomed to using a chainsaw, and Wendy said that carving with a chainsaw “was something that he was always interested in, but had never tried.”
Wendy, on the other hand, had never used a chainsaw. She had previously created art working in ceramics.
Mike had to emphasize safety to his daughter, and he still does.
“It’s something that he preaches to me all of the time. He tells me, ‘If it starts to fall, let it drop; don’t try to catch it.”
The team starts each project with Mike “blocking out” the dog, bear, eagle or other animal, creating a rough shape.
Wendy takes it from there, using a chainsaw to refine the piece’s shape and creating some of the detail, finishing it up by adding more detail with other tools and then painting the sculpture.
“I do as much as I can with a chainsaw,” she said.
“She’s the true artist,” Mike said about her daughter.
Wendy is quick to offer praise elsewhere. “It’s a God-given gift.”
The Rhodeses have demonstrated their craft – and sold their work in many locations, and their finished products are in “at least 34 states … and Germany and Canada,” Mike said.
Much of their business is online, with many people placing orders after viewing their work on their website, http://beartrackschainsawcarving.com. Their workshop is located about five miles north of U.S. Route 40 between Brownstown and St. Elmo, with directional sign on the highway pointing the way.
Bears are a big part of their business, and though many may seem to be alike at first glance, Wendy said that each one is different.
“On each one, the expression is different. Expression is something you can’t duplicate, even if you try,” she said.
Some of those bears have been the hardest to produce, such as one with a mallard duck in its mouth, Mike said.
The “tough ones” are those with a lot of detail, like a baseball glove, he said.
While bears are among their most-popular pieces, the Rhodeses “do a ton of dogs,” Mike said. “People will give us a picture of a dog they lost or about to lose, and ask us to carve a dog like that.”
The father-daughter team has a lot of repeat customers, he said. For example, they are currently finishing up several items for Vandalia attorney Jane Lawinger, including a “Bucky, the Badger,” the University of Wisconsin mascot, that stands more than 4 feet tall.
Their customers also include area residents who lost a tree in a storm and want to have something carved from a part of that tree.
They are willing to create whatever a customer wants, including a stairway post that included the heads of the customer’s three dogs.
“We are always experimenting,” Mike said.
 

Mike Rhodes and his daughter, Wendy, are shown inside their Bear Tracks Chainsaw Carving workshop in rural St. Elmo. At right is a carving of the University of Wisconsin mascot they are creating for Vandalia attorney Jane Lawinger.

One of four conservation officer bears created by Mike and Wendy Rhodes is pictured above.

Wendy Rhodes is shown starting to put some detail into the dog that has been blocked out by her father, Mike. She said that she is often asked about the bandanas on her legs, about whether it’s a fashion statement of some sort. ‘It’s to keep sawdust from going down into my socks and boots,’ she said.