Lynn Anderson, Wood Carver at the Marcus Fair
by Mari Radtke
L. A.’s wildwood Creations has been coming to the Marcus Community Fair over a decade. Lynn is not exactly sure which year he began at Marcus, but he know 2012 was one of his earliest years here. “That’s the year they won the football championship. I made an eagle.” Anderson says when he carves a piece of wood at a fair or other event, he likes to do something related to the area, something that will sell.
Anderson hand-carved for years before getting introduced to A. J. Leuters, well-known chain saw wood carver across Iowa. A. J. introduced Lynn to a few different tools from his hand carving tools. They became friends. Leuters carved at the Iowa State Fair and is known for have done all the wood carvings for “Famous Dave’s” restaurant chain.
“I like to help small fairs. I do 5 to 7 each year,” Anderson said. He does 1 or 2 other small events each year, too. He keeps his chain saw blade sharp by cutting pieces for inventory to stores. “I really like it. When you have a bad day you can come home and pick up the chain saw….”
Coming to the Marcus Fair is something he likes to do. “They treat me well.” In Marcus, they provide the logs for Lynn to turn into an art piece. A typical number of cuts for him is to make 4 pieces of art from logs a day while at the Marcus Fair. He is always surprised when he gets here at the wood to choose from. But he looks and learns about the area and finds some things that are related to where he is. Once he chooses a piece of wood, he gets something in mind. Once he gets started with some idea, he begins to take off blocks until a shape forms. Sometimes nature can force creativity and ingenuity. A piece of wood can have imperfections, forcing him to design removing that imperfection into the final product.
This year, a nice, large cardinal was one of the big pieces he cut. It was a beautiful piece that sold high. But the original log was “sappy.” Heat can cause a sappy spot to leak or release moisture. As the cardinal developed, he found interesting ways to add movement to the piece by removing some of the wet spots.
In his real life, Lynn is a licensed federal grain inspector for loading trains. He grades the grain, and that determines the price between buyer and seller.