FEATURED ARTISTS FOR THE SEVENTH ANNUAL ROTARY WOODWORKIING AND FINE ARTS WEEKEND

The Seventh Annual Woodworking and Fine Arts Weekend sponsored by the Northville Rotary is set for July17-19. The show this year includes over 55 incredibly talented artists from areas near and far. The two featured artists this year are carvers - Wilfred Charbonneau, Jr. of Clifton Park who carves incredible sculptures from deer antlers and Gary Stoller of Meco who creates lifelike water fowl from wood.

The primary focus of Wilfred Charbonneau’s art comes from his love of nature and wildlife. Living close to and spending time in the Adirondack Park in Upstate NY, he finds a never end-ing source of inspiration. Nature demonstrates the daily struggle of life in its most primitive form, basic survival, food, water, shelter, etc. At the same time nature displays peace and seren-ity equal to none, a true expression of balance. When Wilfred discovered antler as a medium he found a true passion for it. Antler has strength, beauty, and uniqueness brought to it by the pow-erful yet graceful animals that carry them. Unlike clay, marble, wood or other traditional sculp-ture materials, antler confines the artist to the natural characteristics of the shape created by na-ture. Wilfred finds this quality fascinating as it challenges his artistic vision to find the art in the antler. Antlers are grown and shed each year producing a one of a kind canvass to create with.

Wilfred’s goal as an artist is two-fold. The first goal is to share his love of wildlife and nature with others with the hope of protecting animals and their habitat for the future. The second goal is to allow one to escape, if only for a moment, to a place they may have been or hope to be. To experience emotions of peace, serenity, solitude or perhaps anticipation or excitement that one can only experience in nature. Examples of his work can be seen at www.antlersculpture.com.

Gary Stoller carves waterfowl, song birds, and birds of prey using basswood or white cedar.

This has been a hobby he has enjoyed for the past 38 years. Each creation is painted with acrylic paint and is one of a kind. He believes he has carved between 1200 and 1500 birds! Gary is an outdoorsman who enjoys many outdoor activities such as camping, hunting, and fish-ing. He spends less time skiing in the winters, so he now does the bulk of his carving during the winter months.

Gary lives in Meco, NY – near Gloversville - with his wife Linda. He is a veteran who served in the United States Army. Among his many awards and ribbons for his art is third place hon-ors for his entry in the International Hunting Decoy Contest in Clayton, NY. You can find him and his beautiful carvings a the Northville Rotary Woodworking and Fine Arts Show in July and in the Adirondack Rustic Furniture Fair in Blue Mountain Lake in September. If you can-not be at the shows, you can contact him via Facebook or email him at gstoller@nycap.rr.com.

Northville Rotary's Seventh Annual Woodworking and Fine Arts Weekend will be held in Northville at the Bradt Building and Town Park on Main Street on Friday July 17th from 5-8, Saturday July 18th from 9-5, and Sunday July 19th from 10-3. In addition to the two featured artists, over 50 other artists including woodworkers, painters, jewelers, photographers, weavers, basket makers, leather workers, potters, and more who will be displaying their unique talents along with items for sale. There will also be a silent auction of artist-donated items and raffles including a Scott Aspect mountain bike donated by “The Bike Works” in Johnstown, NY and a kayak and gas card donated by “Fuel and Food” in Mayfield, NY. Refreshments will be available for sale. A great weekend event in Northville on the beautiful Sacandaga!