Joe (son) in the Wilderness Canoe Area

This picture was taken on day one of a three day canoe trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northeastern Minnesota. July 22, 2008

Dad and Joe head for the BWCAW

My son Joseph and I will go on a college graduation celebration trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. We will enter on the Gunflint Trail at Seagull Lake and spend three days fishing and paddling.
This is the kind of weather and scenery that awaits us in northeastern Minnesota.
This is the size fish I am sure we will catch.
Total wilderness! No phones, cars, motors, and very few people. Just relax.

North House Folk School

I will teach two carving classes at the North House Folk School while I am in Minnesota. Carving the fisherman's face will be offered on July18, and then two days of Scandinavian figures on July 19 & 20. Check out all the course offerings at (www.northhouse.org)
This is a picture of a boat building class in one of the North House classroom buildings. The North House offers rides and overnight trips on the 50' gaff-rigged schooner 'Hjordis'.

Heading for Minnesota

This is a seagull eye view of harbor in Grand Marais, Minnesota. It is my home town where I lived from 2 years old until about 1976. I get back and spend some time every summer. My folks live here during the summer and I also have a brother and sister (and families) that still live here. It is a beautiful town located in northeastern Minnesota on Lake Superior.

This is a view of the marina and the North House Folk School where I teach carving classes.

Grand Marais is recognized as one of the great "artist towns" in the USA. It has an active Art Colony, the folk school and many art galleries. Several professional artists make Grand Marais their home.

This is a view of GM during the winter (maybe October) and it is the reason that I moved to Arkansas about 21 years ago.

Tulsa Carving Show Door Prize

About 1/2 hour before the show closed they announced the winner of the "door prize", which was this gas stove/fireplace. They said it was valued at over $800. I bought two tickets at $1 each at about 3:30pm on the last day and at 4:30pm they read the winner "Bruce Futterer"! It was a nice way to end a very nice show. The people in Tulsa are very nice and friendly and they run a top notch show.

Tulsa, Oklahoma Carving Show, July, 2008

We received good news very early on in the show by winning the "Best Table" award. That is the trophy sitting in front of the plates. Sherrye ironed all the table coverings and carefully transported them to Tulsa so I was glad to share the prize money with her

This stylized "bucking bronco" won a blue ribbon. I carved this while sitting on the beach in Florida a couple of weeks earlier. It is carved from butternut wood

This is a lineup of the carving contest winners. L-R Rusty Johnson (1st), Me (2nd), Lynn Doughty (3rd), and Ray North (HM). We had an hour and 15 minutes to carve a cocker spaniel from a cutout blank. There were about 14 carvers that participated.

This is my second place cocker spaniel. We could only use one tool for the entire time. I am pretty sure it was my first dog carving ever.

These are the first three chip-carved plates that I have ever done. I took a class from Wayne Barton in June.

Flat Plane-Scandinavian Style