| Lisbon artist carves out his nich at Appleseed festival By MATTHEW SCHOMER Journal Staff Writer LISBON — Little chunks of wood throughout his hair. Tan fibers patchworking across his mirrored glasses. More bits stuck all the way down his shirt and protective orange leg guards that hide the front of his blue jeans. And Fred Gromley doesn’t bother to brush any of them off. After all, the 37-year-old billboard artist who has spent his entire life in the Lisbon area had dedicated his entire Saturday to the growling of a chainsaw and the transforming of a log into one of the village’s most honored icons. Anyone who attended the Johnny Appleseed Festival yesterday likely heard Gromley’s noisy artist’s tools as he sculpted away “I’ve had a lot of people here since I fired up the chainsaw,” he said while taking a break from filling his enclosed viewing tent with sawdust. A 1992 graduate of the Pittsburgh Art Institute who focused his studies on special effects makeup for movies, Gromley has been creating sculptures since his college days, but he hasn’t done any work with a chainsaw until very recently. Making his first-ever public chainsaw sculpting appearance yesterday at the festival, he had a definite goal in mind for his sculpture. He said coming to the festival every year as a child, he remembered a billboard that was painted with Johnny Appleseed’s likeness and wanted to recreate it in three dimensions. “I’ve loved that Johnny Appleseed picture since I was a kid,” he remarked. He seemed a bit annoyed that the shape of the log wouldn’t allow him to get Johnny’s legs into the same position they took for the billboard. “Honestly, I could add onto it, but time wise, it doesn’t allow it,” he said, noting the sculpture is supposed to be finished by the festival’ s end. Gromley worked meticulously throughout the day, starting at 10 a. m., sometimes seemingly staring the wooden figure in the place his eyes would be as he cut away, other times hopping atop an unsculpted log to get the perfect angle. “I hope to do him justice,” he told one bystander with a laugh. By around 4:30, the old pilgrim was starting to take shape. Despite several rough edges and large chunks of wood that still needed to be cut off, some definitive Appleseed characteristics were present, from the Bible in his hand to the seed sack slung across his back to the pot atop his head. Gromley will be donating the finished piece to the festival, though he was unsure whether it will be auctioned off or kept for use in future festivals. If it is preserved for the future, he said he would like to take the time to paint it in the same colors that were used on the old festival billboard. The sculpture may become a quite the collector’s piece, as Gromley hopes to go full-time with his newfound art within the year. He said he first got the idea to make chainsaw sculpting a profession from Australian chainsaw artist Angela Polglaze. Polglaze is particularly noted for her “Cheesy Chick” sculptures of attractive and usually scantily clad women, and Gromley’s entry in her Cheesy Chick Challenge 2007 contest, a rather racy number with a low, low neckline and a bit of skirt lifting, took top honors in the competition. “It was just for fun, but I beat out some professional artists,” he noted. The Cheesy Chick was just his fourth-ever chainsaw carving. After his victory, he said Polglaze encouraged him to quit his day job and take up the chainsaw full-time. He said he would have brought the R-rated Cheesy Chick sculpture along to the festival, but added “I didn’t think it would go over too well.” He said he would also like to apply his newly found chainsaw skills to ice sculpting, saying he doesn’t think it would be too hard a transition. “I’ve carved a little bit of ice and I don’t think it’d be a big deal,” he said, explaining ice doesn’t require the artist to have to work with a grain the way wood does. While Gromley would like to showcase his talent in shows and competitions across the nation, he plans to make the first step in his home town. “I figured if I’m going to break into the market, I might as well start here,” he said. |
The Vindicator Monday September 17, 2007
Morning Journal September 2007
| After a long cold winter Johnny is delivered to the Lisbon, Ohio Chamber of Commerce Morning Journal Tuesday 17, 2008 |