Carver of the Month

Robert R. Autison

Robert R Autison started Whittling spoons and other necessary items about age 7. This was at his farm in Western Indiana He now resides in Avon Indiana, just West of Indianapolis and is the current web master.

One of his first carvings was a large spoon carved out of a downed limb of a plum tree. His Grandfather had given him a blue handled pocket knife and shown him how to sharpen it. The spoon was used to stir apple butter in Grandma Mable Modesitt's kitchen.

At age 13 he discovered a Basswood tree with fresh chips all around. The next morning he caught an old Native American man chipping away at the tree. The old man had arthritic hands so deformed that he could not grip the hatchet with one hand. When the man sensed his presence he turned and said. "Oh, you have been sent to help me."

The old man explained that he was carving a mask from a living tree, and that the scar wouldn't hurt the tree. He was using a small and very very old Native American metal crooked knife. He had no idea just how old it was but the bone handle was very yellow and cracked, The mask was shaped on the outside and on the inside it was made to conform to the old man's face. He used lamp black on his face and would cut away the black transferred to the wood.

It turns out that the mask was a death mask. The old fellow believed that when he went before his creator to be judged he didn't want to offend the almighty by making him look on a sinners face. When Bob found this out he essentially stopped carving. Not only because of the mask but because of school, family and career until he took it up again about 1980.

Bob's career was in computer programming and system analysis until recently. Now he is retired and devoting more time to his carving. He primarily carves characters including Santa and Gnomes.