BILL GAITHER/The Register-Mail

Robert Loving, 65, holds his latest creation Tuesday afternoon at his home in the 100 block of North Fulton Street. Loving retired in October 2006 but remains active, entering the workshop at 7 a.m. and leaving there about 8 p.m.

Carving out his niche

Retired food safety specialist shares woodworking craft with students

Sunday, January 28, 2007

By JANET KLOCKENGA

The Register-Mail

Wood carver Robert Loving retired in October from his job as a government food safety specialist at Farmland Foods in Monmouth. Now he works more than full time on his carved sculptures in his heated backyard studio. Loving, 65, arrives in the studio at 7 a.m. and starts the coffee pot. He works until about 8 p.m., he said.

Loving's business is called Loving Woodcarving, and now that he's retired, he feels that there's no time to lose. He hopes to step up the pace and start selling his work at art and craft fairs in a 100-mile radius from Galesburg. He's working on an inventory of Christmas decorations he hopes to sell this fall.

And, he teaches beginning and intermediate woodworking to adults to pass along his skills so they won't be lost someday.

BILL GAITHER/The Register-Mail Robert Loving spends several hours a week in the woodshop, carving, shaping, painting and teaching, all in the name of woodworking.

Think and design first

"I do most of my work on paper before I start carving," Loving said. "Then you can get to the fun part. ... Think and design first, and then carve."

BILL GAITHER/The Register-Mail Loving has created several pieces about everyday people. Cowboys and farmers are among some of his pieces on display.

He likes to make his own patterns.

"It's always better if you do your own design work," he said. "You can try to improve others' designs and redo them so they're yours."

He sometimes works on commission, carving animals, birds and human busts. He also has made some unusual items such as a 6-foot "cigar store" Indian and a ship's figurehead. He makes many Christmas tree ornaments and recently has been producing more bird decoys, such as ducks and blue herons. He works almost exclusively with bass wood, which he buys in the area. Loving's wife Connie paints his pieces.

Loving's work ranges in price from $5 to about $500.

Sawdust in the blood

Loving's grandfather, Paul Harter, was a carver, and owned a sawmill north of Joy in Henderson County.

"He definitely influenced me," Loving said. He loved hanging out in the sawmill when he was a boy, breathing the smell of the sawdust and watching the old-time steam engine that ran the mill. He learned to carve wood when he was about 10.

Today, the shelves lining Loving's immaculate studio include works like a sculpture of a small wren perched among detailed habitat - leaves, reeds and "moss"-covered rocks. A tiny ladybug and a brilliant blue beetle hide among the foliage. Loving has displays of intricately carved morel mushrooms, carved antique thread spools and small figurines inspired by people he has known throughout his life.

Though he sometimes works on portraits by commission, that's not his favorite type of project.

"I will take commissions, but it's hard to do people working off a photograph," he said. "They don't look just like the photo."

BILL GAITHER/The Register-Mail Tools in Loving's collection bear the Masonic mark, and are of a great value to him. Loving received them in the 70s from an older client who's grandfather had come from Sweden and brought hese tools with him.

"That's 99 percent of the battle - sharpen your tools," he said. "It's the most miserable job in the world if your tools aren't sharp."

Once, after working on a piece of art for a client, the woman gave him a full set of carving knives that had belonged to her grandfather, who came here from Sweden. The knives are probably 150 years old, and they are built to last, he said, for a hobby that's given him a lifetime of enjoyment.

"It's given me a lot of peace and satisfaction."