Syracuse, NY — Last Friday I received my grades for the three stories I wrote on the Great New York State Fair. My Professor, Bob Lloyd, liked my story on Brian Ruth, the chainsaw carver. Here’s the story:
The stocky man in black sunglasses maneuvers the hand truck up the small hill. Grunting under the weight of a white pine log, master carver Brian Ruth positions the truck inside a black net barricade over 6 feet tall. A crowd of about 100 people circle the net enclosure at the Great New York State Fair. They wait to see Ruth turn this slab of wood into a masterpiece.
He will do so with a chainsaw.
Ruth nudges the log into the center of the enclosure. He puts on his black leather gloves and white earmuffs. With a blank stare he looks back and forth at his selection of chainsaws and chooses the largest one.
In one swift motion, Brian yanks the cord and the chainsaw roars to life. All conversations are lost in the loud whir. The smell of gasoline and wood fills the air.
Jen Ruth, Brian’s wife, manager and fellow carver, sits off to the side and watches.
“He is one of the top five in the world,” Jen Ruth said. “He’s amazing.”
Even though he is wearing heavy black work boots, Brian glides around the log, kicking up white wood chips, splinters and shavings with every step. The veins in his sun caked arms stand out like roots from a tree. Sweat drips down his face as he jabs and slices at the log.
Ruth graduated from Villanova University with a degree in business. As a student he worked as a tree surgeon.
“I thanked my dad for the education and announced I was going to be a chainsaw carver,” Brian said in “Art of Chainsaw Carving: An Insider’s Look at 18 Artists Working Against the Grain” by Jessie Groeschen.
Since then, Brian has been carving animals and people out of wood.
“I use a chainsaw instead of a paintbrush to create a masterpiece,” Ruth said in an article on his Web site www.mastersofthechainsaw.com.
At the fair these masterpieces include a bear carving for $300, a hummingbird for $250 and a bald eagle for $400.
An older looking man motions Jen over to him. He wants to buy a fox carving for $400. As she talks with the customer, a loud groan escapes from Brian’s chainsaw.
He kicks a piece of wood off to the side. The audience cheers. Brian sets down the large saw and picks up a smaller one. He steps back and looks at the log. This once shapeless slab of wood is slowly transforming into a wolf howling at the moon.
- east coast paper boy
Tags: advanced news reporting, bob lloyd, brian ruth, chainsaw, chainsaw carving, grad school, graduate school, great new york state fair, new 617, new york, ny, s.i. newhouse school of public communications, su, syracuse, syracuse university
