Cedar Valley Woodcarvers appeal to artists of all ages, abilities

MIDWAY - When you hear the words “wood carving,” you probably imagine a man relaxing on his front porch, whittling a bird from a piece of wood; not a 5-year-old sitting on a metal chair, her feet wrapped around the legs, using an electric tool to smooth the piece of wood she holds in one hand.

A piece of paper to the right of Alyse Burns shows what the wood eventually will become a puppy, but this isn't the first thing Alyse of Marion has made out of wood. She also made a cupcake, again using tools to define and smooth the shape before adding tiny details.

“We added the lines to make it look like a cupcake,” she says. “The sprinkles are rice that we painted.”

“She's an artist,” Alyse's father, Jesse, says, adding that wood carving is just another way Alyse uses her creativity.

She isn't the only one. The Cedar Valley Woodcarvers have six members younger than 18.

“It's important to have young people involved,” says John Marion of Mount Vernon, the club's president. “If we don't, we're not going to have a club.”

The Woodcarvers started in 1971. It's club is open to wood carvers of all ages, all abilities and all genders.

Of the 90 members on the club's roster, 15 are women.

Darlene Schuller, also of Cedar Rapids, carved when she was a child - acorns, not wood.

“I used to sit under an old oak tree on our farm and carve dishes out of acorns,” she says with a smile. “I enjoyed that.”

So when former Woodcarvers President Larry Sylvester invited Schuller and her husband to a meeting more than 20 years ago, she found herself returning to her childhood.

“I have all my projects lined up on a shelf in one room of the house,” she says. “One of my girlfriends says it looks like a gift shop.”

Joining the Woodcarvers was a step back to childhood for Marilyn Siechert of Cedar Rapids. Siechert used to watch her grandfather carve as she worked on etchings with a piece of wood.

“There wasn't a TV on his farm, so we'd spend our evenings carving,” she says.

Brandon Box of Newhall started carving nearly three years ago. The 11-year-old home-school student has taken his work to several shows, winning ribbons at some. Woodcarving shows are one way the Cedar Valley Woodcarvers recruit new members.

“We have a club show the first weekend of February,” Marion says.

The show, which is open to the public, attracts carvers from throughout the Midwest. Sherri Wilcox of Cedar Rapids won a carving in a raffle at one of the Woodcarvers' shows years ago. That led to attending a meeting. Ten years later, Wilcox is a member with countless finished projects to her name.

“It's a very creative thing to do,” she says. “You can get caught up in it. Before I retired, there were nights I'd start working on a project, look up and see that it was past midnight.”

Anyone who thinks they must have artistic talent is wrong. It helps, sure, but Marion says club members are happy to teach everything they know to new members.

“We're not one of those clubs where we want to keep everything to ourselves,” he says.

Former club President Linda Langenberg joined the Woodcarvers in 1989, becoming the club's second female member. Langenberg says teaching the club's youngest members is her favorite part of Woodcarvers.

“I love to get the young ones involved because most people don't start carving until they retire,” she says. “Once you learn, you never forget how to do it. It's something you can always just pick up and do.”

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Cedar Valley Woodcarvers

--- Meetings: The club meets the second Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the American Legion Post 298, 625 31

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St. in Marion. The meetings typically last 30 minutes, with multiple carving sessions until 9 p.m.

--- Membership dues are $15 per year.

--- Beginner tools are available for those who want to practice the craft before making a monetary outlay.

--- For more information, visit the club website at

cedarvalleywoodcarvers.com