COPYWRITER | PHOTOGRAPHER | PR SPECIALIST
JAKE SMITH
A CHAINSAW LIKE A PEN
An artist from the Pacific Northwest discusses his faith-based creative journey
Boat captains have a lot of time to think.
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Decades ago, Jeff May’s mind wandered while he sat in his wheelhouse, navigating a giant swell while steering a course from Sitka, Alaska to Kodiak Island, where a crew nearby would study crabs.
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May, who had received his 100 Ton Master license at 19, would ruminate then and for a couple years about what he felt God was telling him to do — leave his position and create a new life, one that could allow time for a family, among other things.
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May said he soon packed everything in a U-Haul, and moved inland, where he began a path toward his current divine provision as a sculptor and woodcarver in Athol, Idaho.
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“From that moment on, everything from putting quality friendships in my life to putting a chainsaw in my hand, that was sort of the beginning of me seeing that God was being faithful to me for being obedient to him,” he said.
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Decades ago, Jeff May’s mind wandered while he sat in his wheelhouse, navigating a giant swell while steering a course from Sitka, Alaska to Kodiak Island, where a crew nearby would study crabs.
​
May, who had received his 100 Ton Master license at 19, would ruminate then and for a couple years about what he felt God was telling him to do — leave his position and create a new life, one that could allow time for a family, among other things.
​
May said he soon packed everything in a U-Haul, and moved inland, where he began a path toward his current divine provision as a sculptor and woodcarver in Athol, Idaho.
“From that moment on, everything from putting quality friendships in my life to putting a chainsaw in my hand, that was sort of the beginning of me seeing that God was being faithful to me for being obedient to him,” he said.
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May works with wood, bronze, stone and various metals to create artistic sculptures of wildlife, and has developed a following in regional shows under the name Jeff May Art.
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It began with woodcarving 18 years ago, but he said over the years he has added one medium after another, taking the time to learn what’s required of each.
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“The challenge with a new medium is to learn the tools
and to learn the ways to manipulate each medium, so that you can get a certain effect,” May said. “My chain saw in my hand feels like a pen.”
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He picked up a saw for the first time when he moved to Wenatchee, Washington. He carved what he knew from his time at sea, a dolphin.
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“And I’m inland, like where am I going to sell a dolphin? It was what I knew, right, so that’s where I started,” he said.
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Over time he moved on to bears, eagles and even a project in San Francisco that was 26 feet tall. While traveling for that San Francisco project, he learned how to work with stone on weekends when he couldn’t carve wood due to noise ordinances.
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He said the process and tools change for each medium, but the creativity never leaves.
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“My mind never stops creating,” he said. “I have this brown paper roll, and I’m always taking scratch pieces of paper before I forget what’s coming to mind, and they’re really crude, just enough for me to really explore.”
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The challenge, May said, is working with the requirements of the medium and manipulating it to create a realistic, energetic representation of wildlife.
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For wood, it’s a process of taking material away until it matches what’s envisioned in the mind. For bronze and other metals, the artist starts with nothing and adds to it until it meets the intention.
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“Add to that the ability to change, push, take away … it’s this tactile thing where you take what you think something should look like in your brain, and you’re telling your hands to do it,” he said. “There’s something about putting your hands to a material and working through those proportions that can solidify understanding of anatomy deeper.”
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He said he uses multiple mediums because he’s never been happy doing just one thing, and that reflects a larger issue many artists face, which is challenging themselves to stretch and grow, moving past what’s easy.
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A goal, May said, when working with clients is to capture life experiences through a piece of work, whether it’s commemorating a loved one with a lighthouse or celebrating a life outdoors as an avid hunter.
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No matter what he challenges himself to create in whichever medium it is captured by, there is one constant that will guide his art, and by extent, his life — God.
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“[Art] doesn’t ever actually end,” May said.
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He said he thinks that as an artist becomes more well-known, the work becomes more about who the artist is.
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“...because there’s something about the story you create around who you are and who you represent.”
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