It's something a person can make from materials right there in the hills, says Chuck Brager, with an eye to the woods near his home on Gruff Place in 100 Mile House.
The statement is a modest one, considering the skill and attention that goes into the myriad objects and folk art he creates.
His wife, Marilynne, calls him the “selective logger.”
“Everything he works with is collected either from the creek or he goes out in the bush. He knows where little groups of things are of what he wants and needs. He can see how it will all work together.”
Leaning on the outside wall of Brager's home and piled all around his workshop are hundreds of logs and branches of different types drying out and waiting to be turned into a part of something: a cane, a desk, a chair, a shelf, a picture frame, a handrail, a bird feeder, a stool, or artistic pieces, such as different animals or human faces.
“He's always been very creative,” Marilynne says. “He has always worked with his hands and figured things out.
"He's been a welder, in business for himself, he's done a lot of things. But, the one job he really enjoyed was when he was in the antique business and he got to understand the concept of 'good' and 'solid' furniture.”
He has had a lot of experience and he has an eye for good quality artistic things, she adds.
A number of his pieces are now on display as part of the show, Home, Heart and Soul, The Folk Art of Chuck Brager, which started on Sept. 13 and goes until Oct. 5 at the Parkside Art Gallery at 401 Cedar Ave. in 100 Mile House.
Brager does all his carving by hand and he'll be offering demonstrations on folk art carving.
“I'm interested in showing the people who would like to make it, how they can make it,” Brager says.
“I'll practise drawing with a knife and peeling the bark and show people how to make cutouts and designs and that sort of thing.”
Not one for too much attention, the demonstration aspect is what appeals to Brager most. And it took some time and goading from a member of the Parkside Art Gallery to get him to agree to the show.
Claudia Ring was manager of the gift shop at the art gallery and is currently in Nelson studying at the Kootenay School of Arts. She's wanted Brager to display some of his work for years and convinced him to show some of pieces at a Christmas Bazaar last year.
“People like his stuff because it's special,” Ring says. “It's all natural.
"You can see the love for wood and design and the patience he has to carve things out. He tries new things and they are his own invention.”
Ring also talks about how she admires Brager for how he persevered following a stroke 15 years ago. Although it's the time when Brager really got into wood carving, the stroke is not something he wants to be identified with or cares much to mention.
“I started doing something with my hands and that was one thing I could do,” Brager says.
“The stroke is what happened to him, but it's not who he is,” Marilynne adds.
Ring also talks about how well some of Brager's pieces sell and how it's probably a good idea he puts what he has on display.
“You want to get rid of the stuff, too. You don't want to build another addition (to his home) to store more,” she says with a laugh.
Marilynne says she agrees and adds her husband's work and materials are encroaching from the workshop into their home.
“There are little wood chips all over the place. But, I have to remember they're creative chips. None of them go on my shoulder.”
“Yes,” Brager adds, almost as an aside. “Very creative.”
