Alan Reynolds, Woodcarver
SubjectPortrait of
Alan Reynolds
Date1998
Mediumphotographs
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.341.1-.5
Description2015.196.341.1: Image of a partially-carved tree
2015.196.341.2: Image showing various wood carvings including bears and a Santa Claus
2015.196.341.3-.5: Images showing Alan Reynolds carving a sculpture of professional stock car driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr.
NotesBiographical Note: Alan Reynolds is a woodcarver specializing in chainsaw carvings originally from Unionville and Burlington, Connecticut and now living in New Hampshire. He owned a custom carving company called Bearpaw Wood Carvings and now works as a carver in Lancaster, New Hampshire. CCHAP documented his work in 1998 to include it in the exhibit Sur Bois: Franco-American Woodcarvers of New England. The traveling exhibit was borrowed from the Franco-American Centre of Manchester, New Hampshire, and it was displayed throughout New England for three years. In partnership with L'Union des Franco-Américains du Connecticut, CCHAP added four Franco-American woodcarvers from Connecticut to the exhibit, making the exhibit a regional showcase of Franco-American artistry in wood. From the exhibit label on Alan’s work: “Franco-Americans have often intermarried with Native Americans, particularly in northern New England. Alan Reynolds' family, originally from northern Vermont, is mixed Indian and French. His great-grandfather settled in Burlington, Connecticut where he owned large fruit orchards and where Alan still lives. He took up woodcarving after watching other carvers, and loved it so much he quit his job to pursue it fulltime. He makes both fine decorative decoys and birds as well as large scale chainsaw carvings out of logs or tree stumps. 'I never went back to work, it's such a passion.' Alan loaned three carvings made from pine seasoned with oil – Bear Cubs In a Tree, Eagle, and Fat Cat."2015.196.341.2: Image showing various wood carvings including bears and a Santa Claus
2015.196.341.3-.5: Images showing Alan Reynolds carving a sculpture of professional stock car driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr.
Subject Note: The Franco-American community in Connecticut numbers about 371,000, descendants of immigrants from French-speaking areas of Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, and northern Vermont and New Hampshire, who came to find work in the factories and textile mills of Connecticut's central valleys. Franco-Americans continue to celebrate their heritage in neighborhood churches and the many French social clubs across the state, gathering regularly to observe religious, seasonal and occupational events such as maple sugaring. Among Windham County Franco-Americans, for example, the maple sugar "home party" in late March always features a boiled ham dinner and fiddle music, French songs, and quadrille dancing.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
Frederick Reynolds
2021 January 11
Carlos Santiago Arroyo
2016 April 20
