Keith Board gave a well-received History Chat this morning in the Mural Room of the P E Dietrich building in downtown Bremen. There were about a dozen in attendance as Mr. Board (he was a high school shop teacher for 33 years) told of his lifelong art and technique.

Click any image to start a slideshow.

He started as a boy of about 10 at his home in Gary, Indiana, carving a swan out of a piece of scrap lumber with a pocket knife. Soon enough he found that an X-Acto blade provided a smoother cut and more control. He has worked almost exclusively with an X-Acto blade, riffler file, and sand paper (and, eventually, a thumb guard) ever since.

He has worked many kinds of wood, but has come to prefer butternut and cedar. He carves animals of all sorts, including prehistoric dinosaurs and marine reptiles, in a smooth, uncluttered style, spending about 40 hours on the larger pieces. He sands them thoroughly and finishes them with a spray-on finish, rarely using any kind of stain and never paint.

We thank Keith and the attendees for a wonderful presentation!

More photos in the Flickr album…

Look for the video in the future!