Master Wood Carver George Schoell

Kelp Beds

KELP BED Surrealistic 26" tall x 28" wide glass top end table

Friday, February 3, 2012

Humpback whale breaching. Carved from desert hard wood weighing 40 lbs. The dimensions are 33" tall by 13" wide. $4,900

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Golden Eagle

The Golden Eagle is Carved from Iron wood It stans 6'3" and weighs 230 lbs. $12,000

Kelp Beds

Surrealistic Sculpture, Nautical 26" tall x 28" wide

California Gray Whale

Donated to the Cabo San Lucas Humane Society for the Christmas party silent auction. The high bid went to Richard and Varnita Hewitt. Thank you for your generous Bid

Human Being ( Blackfeet)

Deep Relief of Cedar

Trail of tears (Nez Perce)

Oak Deep relief

Bald Eagle

Oak carving with a Manzanita root base

Totum

Angel

Year Created: 1990 Medium: Sculpture Wood Size Width: 2.5 feet Size Height: 6.5 feet Size Depth: 2.5 feet Theme: Biblical Price: Sold Description: This sculpture was carved from a dead tree at a church in San Diego, California.It stands in the vestibule of that church. It's apraised value at the time was $9,000

Dreams

Walking stick with an Indians dreams

Splash

Dolphin Coffee Table from tree root

Art Show

The Golden Hind floating restaurant in Hope Idaho

About The Artist

My name is George Robert Schoell, born in Oakland, California in 1945. From age 4, I can remember art being my favorite subject in school. It seems like everything I did from finger painting to clay ashtrays received a positive recognition from my teacher. As I went into higher education, I experimented with watercolors, oil, clay, and wax relief. I started wood carving in 1978 when I moved from the San Francisco Bay area to the rugged north western town of Hope, Idaho. The town of Hope sits on the edge of a spectacular glaciated body of water, 43 miles long, called Lake Pend Oreille. I felt this beautiful area would be the perfect place to raise my 10-year-old son and to explore my artistic gift. I had previously seen a man creating a wood carving of a bear with a chain saw in the redwoods of Northern California. He also had many redwood slabs he was selling for coffee tables and clocks. I thought I would enjoy this media so I purchased an old Evenrude chain saw for $50 from a local logger and went to the mouth of the Clark Fork River in search of the perfect piece of wood. I found a large piece of cedar that had floated down the river and beached itself. After 20 minutes of trying to pull start the antique chain saw, it started. The machine smoked and vibrated as I started to cut a slab off of this large log. The chain on the saw was dull. So instead of cutting a straight slab of wood, one end was 3” thick and the other end was 12” thick. Totally exhausted from operating the dull 40-pound antiquated saw, I loaded the wooden slab into my truck and headed to the local bar in Hope for a well-deserved beer. While sitting in the bar, I noticed a stuffed cougar mounted on the wall. This gave me the idea for my first carving. I went back to the woodpile and threw a twisted driftwood piece into the truck and headed home.

After about 90 hours, I finished all the detail work and my cougar coffee table was finished. From the thickest part of the slab I carved the cougars head and shoulders. The wood tapered off and transitioned into a flat polished table. By placing the twisted driftwood piece under the table I was able to create the illusion that the cougar was crawling over the driftwood almost in a pouncing position. I took my work to a local furniture store in Sandpoint, Idaho, and told the owner of the store that I wanted $900. He called me the next day and told me it was sold. When I deducted the gas and oil used for the chain saw, sandpaper, putty, screws, wooden dowels, varnish, stain, paint thinner, and brushes, I probably only made $7 an hour but I was extremely proud of what I had done and my creative juices began to flow.

During the next year I carved a couple owls, eagles, a large Indian head and a timber wolf caught in a trap. I was carving an 8-foot tall mountain man while doing a chain saw demonstration at the County Fair when I was approached by a representative of the Husqvarna Corporation. The man looked at my old chain saw and asked if I had ever used a newer saw. I told him no. He offered to provide me with three different size custom-tuned chain saws if I would fly the Husqvarna banner while at shows. How could I say no?

With this new equipment and generous newspaper and television publicity, I was working full-time with many new projects. I was commissioned to carve a River Pig (a person that pried logjams apart floating down a river). This sculpture was purchased by a businessman and donated to the historical museum in Sandpoint, Idaho. Another commission that year was a sculpture of Sacajawea, the famous Indian guide that accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition. A collector of Indian artifacts purchased this carving.

I finished a group of Northwest birds and animals and a large wall relief of David Thompson (a famous English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and mapmaker). These pieces were all displayed at a one-man show that was filmed at a floating restaurant called the Golden Hind on Lake Pend Oreille. It aired on the television show, North West Gallery. George has been traveling throughout the US and his latest work is being done in Baja Mexico where he has been studying and carving the local Sea life.

Sacajawea (Shoshone Woman)

One with nature

Eagle Catcher (Cheyenne)

Year Created: 1980 Medium: Sculpture Wood Size Width: 3.8 feet Size Height: 6.4 feet Size Depth: 3.2 feet Theme: Western Price: Sold Description: A hunter would hide under a pile of brush. He would place a small piece of bait on the top of the pile and wait for an Eagle to come after the bait. He would then grab the Eagle by the talons. The hunter would take one feather from the bird and let it go. No need for killing. The feather was his trophy.This Sculpture is located at the Bonner County Historical Society Museum in Sandpoint Idaho

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