LAKEPORT — The roars heard recently at the Chicago Zoological Society”s Brookfield Zoo did not come from a lion, tiger or a bear. Instead, they came from the chain saws used during the 2007 Echo Chain Saw Carving Series Championship Oct. 6-8. After three days and nineteen competitive hours, Lakeport carver Mark Colp walked away with a cup and second place for his carving.
Colp”s sculpture, titled “Spirits of the Great North” garnered him a prize package valued at almost $6,000, including cash, the Echo Carving Cup and a variety of carving tools. The total cash and prize package for the event, with eight contestants, totaled almost $34,000. Sponsors of the event include Echo Inc., a manufacturer of outdoor power equipment including the tools and chain saws necessary to carve wood sculptures.
“Echo gave us each a $1,000 bonus, which they have never done before. They and the Zoo were really ecstatic about this year”s competition,” Colp said.
The theme was “The Great Wild North” and Colp began thinking about his sculpture design shortly after competing in last year”s event. Out of one large block of wood, Colp carved an intricately detailed eagle head, grizzly bear, bison, howling wolf and squirrel during three eight-hour days of work.
He said it”s tricky to conjure up a design that will stand apart from the rest, especially when all are carving based on a single theme, which celebrated legendary North American animals. “The worst thing that can happen is carving the same piece. If two people carve eagles, it gives the judge an opportunity to compare with the better eagle,” Colp said.
Colp first picked up a chain saw at the age of 14, having inherited his talent from his father, Don Colp, a pioneer in carving with a west coast championship named after him. Colp has carved more than 10,000 sculptures during his career, which started right after graduating from Lower Lake High School in 1981.
His home base or “bat cave” as he calls the shop where he cranks out more than 400 pieces per year, is located right on Main Street in Lakeport. Colp also spends an average of 30 days per year carving competitively across the nation. During a six-week period from Sept. to Oct., Colp spent only two days at home as he went from one competition to the next.
He likes the solitude his shop provides, and the fact that he can saw away for hours at a time uninterrupted. But he easily allows his concentration to be interrupted at various events, answering questions posed by the public. At the Lake County Fair in Sept., he and his girlfriend Barbara Coker, a recent convert to carving, talked with onlookers at Colp”s wood carving display. Coker, after just a year”s experience, encourages those who view carving as something only very experienced wood workers can tackle by explaining how easy it was for her to pick up a chain saw and get started.
Colp”s work can be seen in the front yards and driveways of Lake County homes and indeed across the nation, with his winning Echo Championship sculpture on permanent display at the Chicago Zoo. Two new larger-than-life sculptures of a fireman and police officer standing in Lakeport”s Museum Park are also his work. At the Echo Championship, while carvers spent nearly eight hours each day bent over their block of wood, they had to stop to take frequent breaks due to the intense heat. Colp said the 85 degree weather was hotter than usual for a competition.
“A lot of competitions are held up and down the north coast, where the weather is perfect for carving. The heat is made worse with the chaps, steel toed shoes and a saw that”s 100 degrees. It”s almost like hanging on to a heater,” Colp said.
Working in Lake County, Colp is no stranger to hot weather. He said his work escalates with cooler weather. “This time of year is t-shirt weather. The hotter it is the more it drains you and the less you get done.”
The recent Echo competition is the one all the other competitions build up to, Colp said. He is a member of an Echo carving team, and his stiffest competition and winner of this and last year”s first place, Bob King, is a friend and co-member of the Echo team.
“We aren”t really competitive with each other, I win some and he wins some, and we critique each other”s work,” Colp said. He said the competition is something like a marathon. “It narrows down to the eight guys who are all really good, so you just hope you”re in good shape when the competition comes around.”
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com. To comment on this story or others, please visit www.record-bee.com.
