Philip Savage

I started shaping wood at age ten, first on my own with a pocket knife and scavenged scraps of wood sticks and then with power tools and guidance at the KV Carvers Club in Quispamsis. At these weekly club meetings I gained invaluable experience and knowledge on shaping wood. I believe this early training built confidence and efficiency in my adult practice of subtractive sculpture. I moved away from wood carving during my teenage years and dabbled in music, video and painting during high school.

After a stint in University in Ontario I returned to New Brunswick and worked as a landscape horticulturist. As this was seasonal work I found myself back to woodcarving during the winter months. After several winters of hobby carving I started to sell some pieces and secure some commissions. In the summer of 2009 I applied for a solo show at the Saint John Arts Centre with a thematic grouping of seed and plant inspired sculptures. This show netted numerous sales and positive publicity and it was pivotal in my decision to commit to wood-sculpting at a professional level. From this point I focused full time on carving items for sale in craft galleries as well as commissions. At the same time I began to experiment with the construction of wooden furniture with a sentiment that ‘utility’ contained a certain beauty as well as better liability to sell itself. Currently I split my time between production carvings, furniture commissions and furniture and sculpture speculation pieces.