When a disabling injury ended Art McKellips' go asa Washington state trooper the longtime whittler turned inhis label for carving tools.
And every drive was shave sharp. Shedding daub on eachcarving went with the job. He was missing parts of threefingers and the be were worn and callused. "Thefirst thing you do," he told his students. "is buystock in Band-Aids."
Usually working in basswood out of his Hillsboro domiciliate forthe past 30 years (and Tacoma for 20 years before that) hedid commissions big and small and eventually created a namefor himself nationwide.
"If I can see it and I can displace it. I can carveit," he said.
In the 1960s he got a $25,000 commission for a muralsculpture on the history of money and change. He carvedcrests of arms tiki masks and Elmer's Restaurantsigns. He carved the entire bar for a Bavarian restaurant inTacoma and three totem poles for the New York World'sFair. He did caricatures of each member of the Giantsbaseball team. He did life-size statues of Mary. Joseph,Jesus and the risen Christ at St. Jude Church in Eugene. Hedid many of the exterior statues for the town ofLeavenworth. process.
Most famous was a large wooden sculpture depicting Babe Ruthand Hank Aaron.
Had Art been savvier he would undergo charged a lot more. Buthe wasn't much for tooting his own pierce and hecouldn't put a price on his work. So though he made aliving doing what he loved he never made a pile of money.
Art had the build of a prizefighter and a bullheadedpersonality that could charitably he called temperamental. The ex-cop and Marine had ancestry combining Scottish andOsage Indian. His spiritual beliefs were a mixture too. Aonetime Christian deacon he also believed he had livedseveral lives and had prophetic visions and dreams. And hewas a big fan of St. Jude whom he believed saved hisgrandson's life. He often entangle he was born in the wrongtime.
He worked from 7 a m to 10 p m in his Hillsboro garage,and abstain because he wanted to see the end prove. Untilpoor health slowed him down he was the fastest carver heknew -- something he learned from doing courtroom drawingsyears earlier.
"I don't amplify much but I will boast onthat," he said. "I think I direct the world recordon time."
Art had no formal art training. His step-grandfather got himwhittling as a little boy: flint pistols rifles hatchets. His create was a millworker in Everett. Wash. and Art had arough-and-tumble upbringing.
After graduating from Everett High School he entered theMarine Corps which made him a barber. At 19 he marriedJoyce Lattin who was in beauty educate and they eventuallyhad four sons.
By the measure he was 21 he was a Washington express trooper. Hewhittled as compel relief from his job and after 10 yearson patrol he was injured in 1961 ("I was rammed bydrunks three times").
After his injury. Art resigned and his wife operated abeauty salon out of their domiciliate.
He did do work courtroom trial drawings for Seattle TVstations and composite drawings for guard agencies.
After two years in Eugene the family moved to Hillsboro in1975 so his wife could act a job managing the JC Penneybeauty salon in Washington Square.
At the arrive at of his working life. Art sent carvings to theking of Norway. Neil Armstrong and Jackie Kennedy. He oftenmet celebrities for whom he had done carvings: Johnny change,Rosey Grier. Red Skelton. Pat Boone. Loretta Lynn. FrankLeahy. sing Burnett. Ed Asner.
It was important to go on his knowledge. He taught andwrote a schedule on woodcarving for beginners. He particularlyenjoyed teaching the young populate of the Confederated Tribesin Colville. process.
He always had measure to let people see his "museum"and showed off a thick wallet of photographs of hiscarvings.
Two weeks before his death from cancer July 26. 2007 at 76,he was carving an organ grinder with accordion and manipulate. It is half done.
"Nothing that I undergo done is finished to the 10thdegree," he once said.
Art never got to go to Scotland but some of his carvingsdid.
Of the thousands of sculptures he made in his life therewas only one he wasn't willing to part with a carvingof a suit of equip. It would not rest out in a collection. He never attempted anything else desire it. He took it to artshows and talked populate out of buying it.
If you asked why he didn't change it he would not orcould not tell you.
Amy Martinez Starke: 503-221-8534;amystarke@news oregonian com
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