TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Dean Anson has made a name for himself in northeastern Oklahoma as an artist, but rather than using a paint palette and paintbrush, his art media are a piece of wood, his hands and a chainsaw.
Most wouldn't associate art with the loud buzzing of a chainsaw and flying wood chips, but that's what makes Anson a well-known artist.
Anson, a Cherokee citizen, has been carving sculptures from pieces of wood for more than four years, and has created nearly 100 sculptures since 2004. He carves small pieces like eagles to extremely large pieces like buffalo and grizzly bears.
Brenda Hathcoat, Greenwood Elementary [1] principal, noticed Anson's works of art every day she drove to work.
His work grabs people's attention
Anson sometimes works on his parents' lawn and had many of his sculptures sitting on the lawn, which would draw curious eyes daily.
The house is down the street from the Tahlequah school.
"As I was leaving each day I would notice them but didn't know who was doing them," Hathcoat said. "A couple of my teachers came in and said there's a man who picks up his child here and he has a gorilla in the back of his truck."
The wooden gorilla really caught Hathcoat's attention so she went to visit Anson while he was working one day to ask about the gorilla. "We didn't request him to make it for us," Hathcoat said. "It was something he'd created."
Since the school was interested in the gorilla and his child attended school there, he donated half the cost of the piece and the school paid a discounted price for it.
Wood Whisperer draws from a local base
His unique artistry earned him his Wood Whisperer nickname from Tahlequah locals, who are also his customer base.
His pieces sell for about $50 each, and he's getting orders faster than he can carve. Two recent pieces were carved in the yard of a customer and were of a bear sporting a University of Oklahoma ball cap and holding a football, and the other was of an eagle perched on top of a stump. In one weekend while working on those two pieces, he made more than $800.
Anson has also received a sponsorship from Stihl Power Tools and Keys Lawn and Garden in Tahlequah.
As he sawed on the two pieces with his chainsaw he began to draw a crowd he said. He was working in the yard of a house on a cul-de-sac next to a cement storm drain but curious onlookers couldn't get to him.
"People were driving around over there trying to get across so they could see what I was doing," Anson said. "Soon they found their way over here and were asking questions and complimenting my work."
Some of his past sculptures include large pieces to customers from around town, including a buffalo, a bear for the Town Branch creek that runs through town and the life-sized gorilla, which has been named named Cocoa.
The wood speaks to him
Hathcoat asked Anson how he determines what he's going to do with a piece of wood.
"He said ‘it speaks to me,'" she said. "I feel like with an artist that is what one of their talents is — that they're able to look at a piece of wood or canvas and instantly it begins to come to them, ‘this is what this is going to be.'"
It takes Anson about two hours to carve a small sculpture like a squirrel or a bear. He'd like to carve something for the Cherokee Nation, as many of his ideas he'd like to work on are of Indian pieces.
"Those are the things I'd really like to work on but I don't have time right now," Anson said.
Anson takes his art on the road as he does demonstrations at area Bass Pro Shops and other areas around the state.
Since the wood is a three-dimensional object, it's not possible to sketch on it, he said. "When I look at wood there are some pieces that just tell me that it's in there, and all I got to do is remove the bad parts," Anson said.
Anson's talent with a chainsaw fascinates his customers.
"Just the fact that he uses a chainsaw — which is pretty massive — to do such intricate details is impressive," Hathcoat said. "I've looked at several of his pieces and he puts such detailed features on their faces or their body. I'm intrigued that he's able to do that with a chainsaw."
Anson's artwork is well-known locally and is on its way to becoming known beyond the Tahlequah and Lake Tenkiller area.
"He's so good," Hathcoat said. "I've looked at other chainsaw artists' work and Dean's is excellent. It's something I couldn't do and I really have respect for him to be able to take a chainsaw and do that. He has a passion for what he's doing and it shows in his work."