Artist from Idaho, Richard Carpenter

Bear made fromhundreds of thousands of pine needles. The pine needles were gatheredoff the ground, sorted, washed, trimmed and hand woven, over 8 months,in making the life size bear.

Myname is Richard Carpenter and I am an artist, sometimes the starvingkind. In 1990 I decided to leave the hectic fast past life of SouthernCalifornia and move to Idaho to take care of my Dad. I needed to makesome money but the nearest town was 22 miles away and all the jobs thatwere available paid minimum wage. I decided to try using my childhoodartistic talents to make a living. I am inspired by my surroundings anduse many of the natural elements as a medium for my work. I use antlerwhich are shed every year from moose, deer and elk. I also carve invegetable ivory, soap stone cow, sheep, and goat horn and occasional inivory.

This is a picture of my workshop showcasing one of my latest endeavor's. I personally gathered, washed and wove "pine needles" to make this life size bear.

My wife April and I enjoy this area of the country and are determined to carve out a living doing what we love. We have a small shop called "Mountain Magic" on Highway 93 by the Salmon river and are now exposing ourselves to the world of the Internet. Feel freeto browse the pages of items I have or you can e-mail me if you have a special request. Feel free to e-mail if you see anything you like.

Richard Carpenter, 148 Antelope Dr., Salmon, ID. 83467

http://home.custertel.net/~mntmagic/