Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-08-10

cites Admiration Of All.
The Plastic Ar Of nstsliss Ia sutisr In
Agricultural suiidias.
WoAlD's FAIR, Aug. g. (SpeciS l.
Every visitor to this exposition must
have Ind" So said to me bright hdy
whosa OWE cherished fad is embroidery.
Well, since 1t is the fashion. confess q
the start that my fad Is wood carving. I
am dead mashed on il, as they say at VS..
sar. ! am not ''o'fay" IN painting and
sculpture but am up in seasoned tinlhR
and familiar from my youth with t0d
woods; was raised among 'em III fact. Now
here may have been soinsw here an chi
bition Of wood carvings e>.~ai 70 the one
here, but hare not heard u II. And
some y the exhibits are Old friends tsAns-
formed
For instance, Mr. Barteis. Of CsrthagA.
Ills. bas taken many relics of the Nor
mon occupation of his county tHancockl
and wrought them into things of beauty
and joys forever. His history is . rural
romance. AT first glance the litsl 10 inland
town of Carthage would seem unhhfly to
produce great designer, Tut when the
genius Is born no Medusa can paralyze
him. He is natural artist h woOd-was
born to carve His mother is nat ural
artist in drawing and eoauS. Neither
mother nor son ever took q ksson, and the
result is that while some u their designs
show the originality OF unsaught gsnins,
Others produce slightly iudicrous effect,
as is the way of the self educated. He
does all his work with a mallet and six
chisels, and when he conoeives Q design
submits it TO his mother. II she disap
proves that is the end of it.
This is business. you know. and not
merely r good boy story. The father was
a plain farmer and his last injunction vas
that the son should remain with his
mother RS long as she lived So these two
have worked and studied together TIL Mr..
Bartels is ~ years old and has produced
some works which move even the most
skillful To envy. Out of one rail from
the first farm opened by the Mornons in
that county he made his wonderful clock.
Out of other rails and some beans of the
Mormon temple that was At Neuvco he
has carved two sets Of furnknIe which
make every lady love the carver. II IS up
holstered in delicate silk
The Carving club, Of ElGin, Ills, has
|some splendid work in the Woman's
building. and so has the Woman's Colum-
bian club, of McDonough county. One OF
Mr. Bartels' carvings is "A Curiosity in the
Illusion line 1t represents . small mirror
with a curtain which WOMAN Is drawing
aside Tie visible portion a the mirror
Is real. and so delicate is tho work that
one can see in it the reflection OF the
tvoman's finger nails which afe not visible
Ii front A Young lady OF Oakland, Cal,
whose name is not given, has sent some
ftvonderful carvings, and there Is also
,ichly carved piano of redwood from Los
iatos. Cal Iiy the way. California seems
10 have but emily discovered the value
IF the redwoc for carved work and fine
finishing and the fact is of national In
portance since walnut has become so
,scarce.
That state also exhibits a nantelpiece
of redwood which excites much adm1ra-
tion. At the top are two figures, harper
and a woman sitting on books and read
ing a f,aper. On each end are small oval
mirrors set in and surrounded by the most
delicate bits Of highly polished woods,
with spray Of oak leaves, nuts etc. Below
il a large oak tree with beautiful open
country on one side, on the other distant
view Of the mountain and sea- A shelf
holds large lunches of grapes and to the
right is Gala lily, every vein and fila
lnent Of both deIicately outlined in the
wood. Still another beauty is carved
easel in redwood. with design OF the Eu-
caivptus tree. aone by Miss Brier. OF Ala
media. 1t strikes me AS Suggestive fact
that a middle western state and Pacific
coast state should have taken the honors
ia this line.
In plain and ordinary work, II may
call it so, such as scroll saving, there is of
course great variety and it has this ad-
vantage-we can see the work in progress.
In the New : nth Wales exhibit k one
man running a scroll saw and in the Ger
man section another who attract a great
deal of attention. Now this sort OF thing
is not called art and some Of the cultured
wood. vet it is very interesting to COM
mon man to note the dextrous manipula-
.iou. 1t max g me feel as if my fingers
were all thumbs, indeed. In my boyhood
had quite knack-or the other boys
thought so-of whiting "Injun heads"
out of walnut bark, and so am not alto
gether ignorant of the exuitant glow an
artist feels in his fair creations. In fact, l
ID, in with the artist in
that particular at least, which may ac
count for wood carving being my fad; and
though nv productions would have
rank here felt towards them as Captain
X. f. Burt1n's African friends did towards
their ebony god-"We know that he is
ugly and we believe that he is great"
Ia the Forestry building is carved
doorway of teak wood prepared under the
sirectfon of and exhibited by the official
conservator of forests of eastern and upper
Burnah. The design is reproduction of
those used in the Burmese throne
and the carved decorations of the
Mspdalay palace The triangular
space above the door contains designs
said to represent scenes in Man
dalav. with the king and his court. There
is also wonderfully carved mante1piece
bI FaFfhflr N'FTl- tNshN afsA,A tiss~r>
wood found in the ruins Of an ancient city
near Madras and In dock excavations at
Bombay. The teak is at least 60 years
old while the black wood is alleged to an
tedate the Christian era. having grown
hard and black like the bog oak of Ireland.
This carving WIS designed by three sikh
sarpenters and executed by them under
sbe direction Of the conservator OF forests
bat Simla. The two greatest msrvels in
wood carving | shall not attempt to de
scribe till have seen and studied them
many times.
To go from all this to the Agriculture
building to take final lesson in art seems
ike joke, Int modelling in butter has
had a recognized place in the arts ever
since The Dreaming Iolanthe" attracted
SO much attention The great world 5
..5ut,sss in butter making is now in pro-
Yress and will continue till the 18th inst,
aud after the butter Is weighed and has
| Passed INSPECTION and the results are re-
| corded amateurs are free to bry one Of the
firm, hard rolls and try their hands at
modelling T. certainly is plastic art,
and some ver- funny results are produced
| was particularly struck with the work
Of one genius who had made a sort Of oval
t plaque with figures raised barely enough
! to show the design. It represented OF
was supposed to represent, Jersey call