With a background in fine art, Simon Archer has always had an eye for detail – as he has proven time and time again across three decades of chainsaw carving.
SIMON Archer came to wood sculpting and chainsaw carving after having done quite a few different jobs, none of which were necessarily related to the one he does now.
“My first job at 16 was washing dishes and peeling potatoes at a local Italian restaurant. I then went on to work alongside countryside rangers as an estate worker. This was the first job that I actually enjoyed and would probably have set me on a path of nature conservation. Unfortunately, my contract ended due to lack of funding. I had a spell claiming unemployment benefit, and then went to London to make my fortune. That did not go to plan, so I came back home and got a job with a local landscape gardener.”
Several years of landscape gardening followed before, as he describes in his own words, he “became jaded with his career choices”. He was persuaded by an old mate, Stu, who found himself in a similar situation, to enrol on a fine art degree course as a 23-year-old ‘mature student’ at Coventry University. Art had been a subject that Simon had excelled in at school.
“It was when I was doing this degree that I discovered I had an eye for sculpture.
"After graduating, I focused more on woodcarving and spent several years carving with traditional tools. These were various tools such as carving chisels, adzes, and axes. It was difficult making a living because it was very time consuming and hard to be competitive on pricing work. I took the plunge and threw myself at chainsaw carving.
“I bought an old Stihl 08 rear-handle saw and took an NTPC course on maintenance and cross-cutting. On the day of assessment, neither the assessor nor I could start my saw. Luckily, he had a rear-handle Stihl MS200 on him so I did my assessment with that. Not long after passing, I bought an MS200 for myself.”
In the early days, when he was trying to get established and get sales and new jobs, Simon did the show circuit. Carve Carrbridge was the first ever event that he attended and, by his own admission, he did terribly; but he believes it opened his eyes to the competitive carving circuit. He found that doing shows was a great way to get himself known, and to build up a customer base. Nowadays though, he does fewer events as he finds that they can be a lot of hard work with no guarantee of making sales.
“It took a few years finding my way with power-tool carving. My early work was basic and I did not feel confident charging a lot for it. My customers were simply folk who wanted a chainsaw carving; it did not need to be anything special, just cheap, and cheerful! As I improved my skills I began to increase my fees and my customer base shifted to people seeking me out specifically for my style of carving.”
Simon is based at Formby, near Liverpool, and rents space from the National Trust there for his workshop. Simon has become established in his local area and further afield. Most of his work is on a commissioned basis, working with large dead stumps in either parks or domestic settings, but he also likes to spend time at his workshop/studio trying to create new carvings and to work on new ideas or innovations.
Simon also likes to exhibit his work. He had a solo exhibition a few years back at the National Trust Rievaulx Terrace in Yorkshire. The National Trust exhibition was part of what they described as a ‘truly natural’ sculpture exhibition and it ran in 2018 at their site near Helmsley. Simon’s sculptures were ‘Inspired by Nature’ and numbered 20 in total, and included a bursting seed pod, giant redwood pine cones, a descending sycamore seed and a carving of owls hiding in the nook of a tree.
He currently has work in a fantastic new gallery, the Titan Arcadia in Taunton, run by fellow sculptors Matthew Crabb and Simon O’Rourke. “Some of the works that I have on display here include a four-foot pine cone, a flared sequoia tree throne, and a couple of my relief pieces – Running Mountain hare and Cuddling Lions.”
Going further back, Simon has had his work displayed with a local gallery.
“Having work in galleries and attending open evenings is a great way to expand your audience and make connections. Similarly, with events, you never know whom you might meet or be introduced to that could lead to a new opportunity. I recently completed a carving called Acorns, which were part of a themed garden titled Oak at the International Garden Festival, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, France.”
Simon’s commissions come from different sources; website, social media, and word of mouth. Occasionally also from other carvers, either passing jobs on or as a collaborative venture.
“Fellow sculptor Simon O’Rourke has brought me and other sculptors in on some of his projects. Both he and Matt Crabb see the Titan Arcadia Gallery as a platform to bring artists together to work collaboratively on big projects. I have worked on a couple of sculpture trails and a crazy golf project.
“I do not do many shows, but I do try to create a body of stock for such events in between commissioned work. I also carve pieces for exhibitions and experimental work when I can. I get bored quite easily, so it’s normal to have several projects on the go at one time, and I can flit between them.”
Simon has created work for the National Trust itself, along with the Woodland Trust and quite a few public spaces in the Formby area.
“One of the Woodland Trust pieces that I carved was a family of owls in an old dead elm tree. I recently carved a site-specific six-metre totem pole for Natural England at its Ainsdale Pinewoods site.
“There were a few large Corsican pines that came down in the devastation left by Storm Arwen. Natural England had a budget for a community arts project and that led to me being commissioned to sculpt a six-metre tall site-specific totem pole for the area. Highlighting local fauna, there is a buzzard on the shoulders of a sand lizard, on top of a man with a dung beetle, on top of a Natterjack toad. The design was in keeping with First Nations style, and is currently being painted by several community groups before being erected later this year.”
Simon’s most recent piece for the National Trust was a relief carving for Castlefields Viaduct in Manchester, depicting the viaduct, wild flowers, and a Manchester bee. The National Trust has worked to transform a giant steel viaduct into an elevated park full of trees, plants, and flowers. The plan is to allow visitors to experience and explore the viaduct and learn more about Manchester’s history of urban landscapes, trees, and plants.
The National Trust has used several of Simon’s sculptures on its Formby Asparagus Trail, a walk of around one-and-a-half miles that follows a route over land that was levelled to allow asparagus to be grown right up to the 1950s. Sculptures include three giant asparagus spears that Simon carved from sycamore. He also completed a bench, from oak, that represented Mr Brooks, who was a well-known Formby asparagus farmer, as well as producing a large sculpture of another famous asparagus farmer, Jimmy Lowe, which has been sited near the beach.
Simon carved the front of a Viking boat from a tree that was felled in Formby village. The sculpture to the front is that of the Viking boat with the word Fomebei carved into it with some Vikings sculpted on the rear. Formby had associations with Vikings, either raiding, trading or ultimately settling in the area around 960AD.
“This was one of a number of mature horse chestnut trees in my village that had to be felled for safety reasons. There was a lot of resistance locally to having them felled and the local council and parish council approached me to create something in memory of them. With Formby being an ancient Viking settlement, a design was approved for an interpretation of a Viking long boat.”
Simon works with a variety of tools to create his sculptures. His chainsaws are mostly Stihl, with some Echo. “I’ve used Stihl from the beginning, so I know how they’re put together and can confidently fix them when needed. I have invested in Echo more recently for a couple of reasons. Firstly, on recommendations, and secondly, one of my sponsors, Chainsawbars UK, stocks Echo, so they were more attractive financially than Stihl.
“My mid-range saw is a Stihl 036, old but reliable, usually with an 18” toonie bar with ⅜ lo pro chain. While my detail saw is a Makita DUC353 36V battery saw, with an R7 tipped Sugihara bar running ¼ carving chain. Battery saws are so much more precise for detailing than petrol saws.”
Simon has many Makita battery tools.
“I had a few Makita corded power tools to begin with and when I switched to battery tools I felt confident Makita would work well for me. It was also a big incentive knowing its chainsaws run off the same 18V battery system. I also have a number of Milwaukee 18V and 12V tools; I do not think there is one brand that makes everything I need.”
He uses angle grinders, die grinders, and dremel types with Saburrtooth bits and Manpa tools. “The Manpa tools generally attach to angle grinders.
“Some are belt-driven cutter heads similar to HarryCane power gouges. There is also a long belt sander, which is a bigger version of the Makita finger sander. The Saburrtooth bits fit into Dremel die grinders, and come in different profiles and grades, from very coarse to fine. I use these for texturing and creating fine details like eyes, nostrils, and talons.”
Simon continues to attend chainsaw-carving competitions throughout the UK and further afield. “While it is not strictly a competition, I have attended Chaptacular Chainsaw Carving Bash in Georgia US, which is a charity carving event for cystic fibrosis. I also have commissioned work in Sweden.
“I was invited over to Sweden to assist fellow carver Robin Marsh, a Canadian, who has settled in Sweden. We carved a number of community pieces with a local folklore theme and an 18th-century Swedish soldier from a huge dead elm within an old military graveyard. This was commissioned by Radio Sweden.”
Simon has competed at Carve Carrbridge, Garnock Valley Carve, the English Open, and Woodfest. He has an interesting take on these competitions.
“I have a love/hate relationship with competitions. I love the social aspect of them; meeting up with like-minded people, and catching up with old and new friends around a fire pit is a wonderful thing. However, carving under the pressure of time limits and the judging side of things I am not so keen on.
“Also the auctions more often than not can be a disheartening experience. Don’t get me wrong, there is a competitive side of me that wants to win, but I normally produce my best work when I’m not under these pressures.”
Simon has completed many memorable commissions and sculptures, including:
• “Fox Relief: one of those carves that just emerged without any problems. It was not a commissioned piece so there were not any deadline pressures and it sold as soon as I posted it online.
• “Hare Study II: again, another studio piece in relief. I really enjoy relief carving and I love hares.
• “Then there was Jimmy Lowe, asparagus king: this was my first human portrait sculpture. It was a big step up for me at the time. He was a well-known local character from the 1930s that put Formby on the map, selling his asparagus to the top hotels and restaurants in London.
• “Levelling the Land Bench: is another sculpture from the Asparagus Trail at National Trust, Formby. It is an oak log bench, which depicts the early farmers levelling sand dunes to create their asparagus fields.
• “Finally, there is Family of Frogs: this was a private commission for a family of three. A really challenging composition that got my head spinning.”
In Wisewood, from the Studio of Simon Archer, Simon has certainly found a career that was right for him.
“I enjoy the freedom of working for myself. I like the end result, most of the time. Solving problems through a project can be enjoyable, but some jobs can be a battle at every turn, which is not at all enjoyable. I think the worst part is pricing jobs.”
www.wisewood.org.uk
www.instagram.com@simon.archer
www.facebook.com/Si.at.wisewoodsculptor/
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