Our Featured Woodworker lives in the bush near Hazelton, British Columbia, Canada. Or, as Caril describes it 56 degrees north in British Columbia, western Canada.

At right, we see the untamed beauty that inspires Caril. The philosopy of the artist is best expressed in a direct quote,

"Right now, in human history, some of us are looking at nature, and at ourselves, with ideas that are potent and humane. Some of us look at natural environments with new intensity, born of concern that we may be about to lose much of it. It is no longer unusual to visualize an environment as an active, interrelated flow, where the small part can change the whole. I want art that reflects this perception. I choose to carve sculpture from wood; the substance of wood contains, resonates with, the processes of nature and the wild complexity of the natural world."

The carver's studio nestles amidst the grandeur of the Canadian terrain. Even thouch Caril's studio sports a colorful facade, it seems to fit with it's environment.

It is somewhat primitive here. requiring the carrying of water in buckets from the creek nearby. (Now that would wake you up in the morning.) However, Caril says that anyone living here is particularly fortunate due to the glimpses of the animals, who experience the land in their own ways.

Caril was born in Dayton, Ohio and moved to British Columbia in 1966. It was several years later that the artist embraced this back-to-the-land lifestyle on this acreage bounded by the forest and a creek. Sculpture in wood came as a natural development thanks to this lifestyle.

The carving to the right is entitled "Treehugger" and is somewhat symbolic of Caril's philosophy. She embraces her environment and expresses it this way:

"Some of us look at natural environments with new intensity, born of concern that we may be about to lose much of it. It is no longer unusual to visualize an environment as an active interrelated flow, where the small part can change the whole. I want art that reflects this perception. I choose to carve sculpture from wood; the substance of wood contains, resonates with, the processes of nature and the wild complexity of the natural world."

"Treehugger" is crafted from Birch and is 17". It was carved in 2001, so it is one of Caril's more recent works. Caril began carving in 1990, but this was preceded by 15 years of drawing and painting. Carving clicked with the artist from the very first project.

The first carving was a bear, which when finished felt incomplete to Caril, so it was finished with the addition of a carved environment for the bear. This brought about the combination of animals within an abstracted environment represented in Caril's work.

"TREEHUGGER"