Carving away the season

For most, braving the “carving season” is limited to Halloween pumpkins or the Thanksgiving turkey. However, by combining carpentry and artistry, Thomas Givens turns heads by carving something a little more out of the ordinary – wooden sculptures.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky and growing up in Virginia, Givens was surrounded by nature as a child, and let his imagination run wild with the natural resources he found in his own backyard. When splitting wood and letting the shapes speak to him, Givens could always see unique possibilities whether it be a toy ship or dumbbells made out of firewood. "My brother Jim called it artsy fartsy," he recalls.

Since his “artsy fartsy” dumbbell days, Givens has moved onto larger scale projects to share his aesthetic with the public. For Givens, it isn't just about creating something that is beautiful or pleasing to the eye (although that's part of it), but it's also about re-assessing what people consider "trash." It isn't about perfection in art; rather, it is the imperfection found in nature that allows his art to flourish. Flawed wood that would normally be sent to the chipper becomes the material for Givens' larger-than-life works of art.

His most notable work is a collection of whale tales, inspired from the inherent shape of wood. “I just was obsessed by it,” he explains.

“I started sketching them and seeing whale tales everywhere.”

This obsession led to one of his whale treasures right here in Charlottesville next to the 250 Bypass. Although the original fifteen foot high sculpture was destroyed by storms this summer, recently, three smaller, award-winning versions of the whale tail filled its place. “It was kind of a blessing actually,” he said about the destruction of the original whale sculpture's destruction. “It had been really worn down and you hate to see it just rot away, I would have had to do something about it anyway but instead, nature took care of it for me.” It seems only fitting that nature was not only what inspired this work, but also what caused its ultimate demise.

Givens maintains that all of the struggles, such as the destructive thunderstorm this summer, are worth it in the end. At the end of the day, art is fun and he does it simply because he can and it makes him happy. When it comes to happiness, he thinks he may have discovered the secret:

“Just seeing pretty things, being in pretty places while eating good food and listening to good music with good friends. It sounds hedonistic, and perhaps it is.”