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The face of the bear is an earnest one, with soft eyes and almost the start of a smile and he will greet passers by headed north on Sixth Street.
Steven Higgins calls this wood carving The Song of the Wolf, as the wolf rears her head back to howl, the bear, owls and eagle scenes emerge.
This wood carving by Steven Higgins was completed Tuesday after three days of work on an old maple tree on North Sixth Street, at the location where Cindy Wolfe is building a home.
This is just one of about 50 chainsaws of various sizes that Higgins uses for his wood sculpting.
On the back of the bear’s head emerge a wise old owl, along with a regal eagle head.
Higgins puts some finishing touches on the carving Tuesday afternoon.
Higgins works on polishing up the eyes of the owls.
This trio of owls nestles in the side of the bear.
Higgins works on polishing the eyes of the little owls.
The face of the bear is an earnest one, with soft eyes and almost the start of a smile and he will greet passers by headed north on Sixth Street.
Steven Higgins calls this wood carving The Song of the Wolf, as the wolf rears her head back to howl, the bear, owls and eagle scenes emerge.
This wood carving by Steven Higgins was completed Tuesday after three days of work on an old maple tree on North Sixth Street, at the location where Cindy Wolfe is building a home.
This is just one of about 50 chainsaws of various sizes that Higgins uses for his wood sculpting.
On the back of the bear’s head emerge a wise old owl, along with a regal eagle head.
Higgins puts some finishing touches on the carving Tuesday afternoon.
Higgins works on polishing up the eyes of the owls.
This trio of owls nestles in the side of the bear.
Higgins works on polishing the eyes of the little owls.
The Song of the Wolf is what Steven Higgins thought he might call his latest wood carving.
This carving happens to be sitting in the front yard of Hiawatha resident Cindy Wolfe — where she is building a new home on North Sixth.
The wolf isn’t the prominent feature — the carving also features the earnest face of a large grizzly, with soft eyes and almost the beginning of a smile as it’s main art that people passing heading north will first notice. However, a walk around this amazing wood carving shows a howling wolf down on the bear’s side — with all the creatures of the forest emerging from her song.
Higgins is a well-known wood carver from Grandview, Mo., and has been honing his craft for more than 20 years and his art is known worldwide. He competes in wood carving events globally, but still offers services for pieces around the area — such as the request from Wolfe in Hiawatha.
Wolfe, a Hiawatha native who moved back to the area late last year and most recently bought and rebranded the fitness center downtown into Fitness Den — said she had a couple trees come down in the course of building her house. Her mother gave her the idea to create a wood carving out of a stump, however one was hollow so that wasn’t a good candidate.
That led her to an old maple tree on the incline from North Sixth Street — to the east of the house. Higgins said the hard maple was perfect for wood carving.
Higgins said the design for Wolfe’s wood carving came a little from the owner’s ideas — Wolfe said she wanted something to connect with her last name, but she also liked owls too as her grandmother collected them. After her mother, Ruth, suggested making a wood carving, she got on the Internet and found Higgins.
“I have seen his bears on his website and they are amazing,” she said. “This is just amazing — look at the claws and the details.”
After hearing her ideas, Higgins said he had to see what the stump looked like. While occasionally he might sketch ideas, he said he rarely draws out a design first.
Higgins said he showed up a few weeks back to start the project, pulled out one of his nearly 50 chainsaws of various sizes, and started — letting the tree dictate the design.
“This was an interesting maple tree,” he said. “It’s usually a three-way talk between myself, the person wanting the work done and then the wood. The wood usually has its own idea.”
As he began carving, Higgins said suddenly the bear was just there. Then came the wolf, and from it a song as she howled.
In her breath, came out the eagle and the owls, in “three to four little stories,” he said.
Higgins said he feels that nature is all connected.
“This piece is about the beauty of nature and wildlife and how it’s all connected,” he said.
Higgins lives in a fairly urban area with his wife Kelly, who he started Family Tree Carvings with, along with their children. However his shop is nestled in four acres of land and he is able to spent a lot of time outdoors reveling in nature. A native of Washington state in a town of about 300 people gave him the love of nature and wildlife.
Higgins said he spent roughly 15 hours on Wolfe’s piece — three separate days. On Tuesday of this week, he was spending time with staining and adding highlights, along with buffing the eyes of the creatures to make them shiny. He said many of the specialty chainsaws he has offer small intricate chains — perfect for wood carving. He also has several other tools he uses to add highlights, for sanding and buffing.
Higgins said he enjoys getting back to nature and working on tree wood carvings. He said it’s something he was “born to do.” When he was young, he began to whittle.
“Mom said go outside to do something,” he said. “I used to whittle little bars of soap to make gifts for people. When you find something that fits, then you make it happen.”
Higgins went on to earn a Boys Scouts Merit Badge in wood carving and became an apprentice by the age of 11 and started traveling — winning his first competition at age 17. He has represented the United States in many international wood carving competitions including in Japan, Germany, the U.K. and Canada. He also has a side business as an auctioneer at wood carving events. Higgins has also tried his hand at ice sculpting and carving human forms.
As Higgins put the finishing touches on Wolfe’s wood carving he said he really admired the wolf. He talked about a documentary he watched that detailed how wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park after nearly becoming extinct.
“It was about how the wolf healed the land,” he said. “Some thought it was a nuisance, but you can’t just eliminate a nuisance and not have problems. Everything in nature is connected.”
Just as the wood carving, The Song of the Wolf.
For more information on Higgins, find him on Instagram at @stevenhigginschainsawcarver or at www.familytreecarvings.com.
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